The Wielders of Chaos
by Super Shadowsonic
Summary: Sonic and his friends were defeated. They lost everything, their homes, their planet, and their lives. Now overlanders most stand up and fight for them equipped only with the powers and guidance of the fallen heroes gifted to them. It's a fight to end the darkness that has encased the planet. But can mere children succeed where heroes have failed?
1. Prologue

_**The Wielders Of Chaos part 1**_

"_**Prologue,"**_

Sonic leaped into the air to avoid a spike shooting up from the ground. Then he began dashing down a long corridor quickly moving from left to right and his torso accordingly to avoid each spike that sprung up at him. Sonic felt like this really wasn't his day. He had left the Smash Mansion to return to his world in order to do a little heroing, no big deal. When he gets there however, he finds the entire planet being ravaged by monsters, and his friends nowhere to be found. He's been fighting his way through armies for weeks, and still he barley has a grasp on what's going on. However, he was finally able to get to the mastermind in charge of operations.

Sonic leaped into the air to land against a thick brick wall then kicked off just as a gust of purple energy was flung at him, narrowly missing.

This mastermind is probably unlike anything Sonic has every faced. Even Eggman seems to gone ghost as well. Sonic took a sharp turn down another corridor on his left and quickly dashed through it. He arrived in another random hallway similar to the last. Black brick walls, lack of light, low visibility, oh yeah and can't forget about the monsters on his tail. Sonic looked back to see two growling beast right on his heels. The monsters were unlike anything Sonic has ever seen. They looked to be made of pure energy, dark energy, that has taken a physical form. They travel feral style on all fours, purple highlights along it's body with the rest being black, a tail, and spikes from every which direction stuck out of it, and the most notable was the glowing purple sockets that were supposedly eyes.

Sonic turned his attention forward to see two more of these beast appear in front of him from thin air. Sonic skid to a halt than he stared at the two towering beasts in front of him, and glanced at the ones behind him. The beast also had notable size, about three times Sonic's height and that's just on all fours. On it's hind legs it was gigantic enough to make Sonic crane his neck back. Sonic balled up his fist to show he was not scared nor was he backing down.

"_Silly_…" came a deep dark voice. Sonic jerked his head quickly to the direction from which the voice originated. His eyes stared deep and hard into the darkness above him. He saw a figure take shape. At first disfigured then taking the form of a hedgehog, a very twisted looking hedgehog. It's quills had horns sticking out of it, it has crystallized hands and feet, dark black fur with purple highlights on the quills and edge of its eyes, and blood red eyeballs with an eerie green retinas. The most shocking trait about this creature is his lack of a mouth. All in all, this guy looked terrifying. "_**You actually believe you can stop me?**_"

"Well, I made it this far, and your pets still haven't mane me. You might wanna try obedient school," Sonic responded snidely.

The being chuckled, "_**I don't know if its bravery or lack of intellect that makes you speak, but either way it is commendable. You know when I first started out conquering this world I thought for sure I would have to deal with you a lot sooner. Lucky for me, you weren't around making this easier, but I admit less pleasurable**_,"

"Awe, I stood you up on our first date?"

"_**That's it hedgehog, make as many jokes as you can, to your hearts content. I won't hinder you**_,"

"What?" Sonic asked shocked. "But its no fun if its not hindered. The best kind is hindered,"

"_**I do it out of respect for you. You will not live to tell anymore of those immature, unnecessary, juvenile, crude, and all around annoying jokes of yours**_,"

"Ah, I knew you didn't like em," Sonic said smirking.

"_**It matters not. I shall cover this world in the darkness to which you banished me to**_,"

"We've met!" Sonic said shocked. "Wow, didn't think I could forget a plastic surgery accident like you,"

"_**It's not only you who has forgotten, but all the world. My power was feared, but now I am imperfect. However, with the power of the Chaos Emeralds I will obtain my perfection! I will take back the world, which so rightfully belongs to me, and rid it of pest such as you. Ones called 'heroes'. The worlds do not need beings like you. The good-natured can always bring about great evil. There will come a point in time when an unstoppable force meets an unmovable object**_,"

"Is that a physics question?"

"_**It's a lesson on life Sonic. Put aside these silly ideas you call 'heroism' and lay down your fist. Without the Chaos Emeralds you are no threat to my plans. You only remain a thorn in my side. Surrender and you may be spared, unless you really miss your friends that much**_,"

"Oh, I'll lay down my fist alright!" Sonic said leaping at the being in darkness and pulling his fist back to deliver a powerful punch.

The figure huffed then with a twitch of his eyes sent a powerful gust of purple energy right at Sonic. Sonic was hit directly then slammed into the ground with great force. The beast took this time as a chance to pounce. All four beasts jumped on Sonic then began to claw away at him, but Sonic wasn't going down like that. Sonic began to spin rapidly in his spin from. Then he began moving in a circle knocking the beast away then immediately smashed them to pieces. Sonic staggered to his feet trying to ignoring the pain of the gashes. Sonic looked up to see the figure merge with the walls. Sonic gasped for a moment, so he was unprepared for when the figure reappeared right below him. The figure wrapped it's hand around Sonic's throat. It then turn to throw Sonic right through the two inch thick wall and the come out the other side, which sent Sonic rolling.

"_**In the dirt, where you belong. You are in over your head, and you will not win**_,"

"For…someone without a mouth…you sure like to talk a lot," Sonic moaned.

The figure slammed it's hand down on the ground to send a row of spikes in Sonic's direction. Luckily Sonic rolled to the side just in time. Sonic dashed forward toward the figure. The figure began floating backwards making Sonic follow. Sonic shot forward with a sonic spin, but the figure merge into the wall behind it. Which in turn made Sonic smash right through the wall to the outside. Luckily, Sonic stopped himself in time that he didn't go flying out the hole. He looked down below to see a sea of monsters all moving and jumping around. The entire ground was covered in monsters. Sonic was struck dumb for a moment.

"_**Do you feel it…**_" Sonic gulped as his eyes went to the side only to see a part of the beings face. "_**That overwhelming feeling in the pit of your stomach, that grows and thrashes inside of you. A feeling that's building to proportions that you can't even stand. Your legs begin to shake, and your arms fall to your sides useless. You do know this feeling right…it's fear…**_"

Sonic leaped to the side of the hole gaining distance from the figure. "Oh, that's good, I thought it was just something I ate,"

"_**Cover up your fear with jokes, it matters not. In the end though you will accept it**_,"

"I don't have to if I don't want to. My friends may be…gone…but I'm still here," Sonic said tightening his fist. "As long as I got a good pair of legs underneath me, I will fight!"

"_**Pitiful creature**_," The figure shook its head. Then it pointed a hand out and a saber like point of energy shot out his hand.

Sonic was ready. Sonic flipped forward slamming his feet on the end point of the spear slamming the end into the ground. The figure was surprised. Sonic shot forward while on the spear than curled up to smash right into the figure's head. The figure began to merge into the ground as it fell. Sonic however was quick. He reached down into the floor to grab the creature's arm. Sonic then dived down into the darkness with the creature. It seemed as if Sonic and the creature were fighting within the walls because eventually the figure went flying out of a wall and into another, Sonic following behind him. Eventually the creature hit the floor without merging into as Sonic landed behind it.

"I'm not so easy to scare, especially when I have folks counting on me,"

The figure growled as it waved its arm. A spike sprang from the wall on Sonic's right aimed for his head. Sonic leaned back the spike narrowly missing. Sonic then swung himself onto the spike just as another sprang up from where he was standing originally. Sonic reached into his quills to pull out a bright navy blue stone. He raised it into the air to allow it to glow. It's glow rivaled that of the sun as the light dispelled all the darkness in the area. The figure cried out as it vanished in a puff of smoke. Sonic held the emerald close to him allowing himself to warm up in the light.

"Look at me…getting console from a rock…" at this point this Chaos Emerald was the only light in Sonic's life. Sonic shook his head. "I can't get angsty yet, I need to find the emeralds then defeat this darkness. Then later I'll get all angsty,"

Sonic allowed the emerald to lead him through the corridors of this shadow castle. The light of the emerald dispelled any darkness that approached Sonic. The emerald only got brighter as Sonic neared the other emeralds. Sonic then finally arrived to a giant oak door. Sonic held the emerald up to it and the dark seal on the door vanished, so Sonic simply kicked it open. He leaped in expecting a horde of monsters, but only found the single figure their. It seemed to be catching its breathe. Upon noticing his entrance the figure shot into the air then began floating with a strange aura surrounding his appendages.

"_**Prepare to die!**_," it said.

Sonic stood his ground for one final assault. The figure launched what seemed to be demonic versions of Chaos Spears. The demonic part about them was the energy was black, depressing, and it seemed to howl with agony as it moved through the air. Having gained lots of experience with dodging attacks like these Sonic quickly performed a somersault to avoid the attacks. The Figure quickly about faced to wave his hand to launch another barrage of Black Chaos Spears. Sonic dashed from one end of the room to the other avoiding spear after spear. After noticing a wide spread attack like that wouldn't work on Sonic, the figure decided to be more precise with his shots, so he opted to shooting on out at a time from each hand.

This forced Sonic to be more precise with his movements. Sonic performed a front flip, then a corkscrew flip, leaped to the side leaving a blue trail behind him, then dashed on the side of the black walls. Upon running alongside the wall Sonic noticed something above him. Seeing as the darkness was so thick and existed in every part of the planet now, to see this light was inviting. Sonic noticed that the emerald went crazy which could only mean one thing.

"The Chaos Emeralds!" Sonic yelled. Sonic noticed that the Chaos Emeralds were placed on a chandelier with seven sockets as if they were mere light bulbs. "Wow, I gotta say that's creative, tacky, but creative,"

The figure was outraged as it shot into the air to confront the blue hedgehog. Sonic was running around in a spiral in order to give himself so evasiveness, and reach the top quickly. The figure raised both it's hands to unleash two separate beams from each hand respectively. It hit to top portion of Sonic's path. Sonic however would not allow that to stop him. Sonic used his quick reflexes and acrobatic prows to jump from one piece of rubble to another to gain his prize.

"This is checkmate!" Sonic yelled leaping toward the emeralds with his hand outstretched. He felt the power it was so close. The emeralds were all right there begging him to take them.

"_**Chaos…Control…**_"

However, things didn't work out. Sonic was so focused on gaining the emeralds he lost his focus. That split second cost him dearly. Sonic felt breathing to be a labor all of a sudden. Sonic's strength suddenly leaving him, and the emeralds power fading away. This is definitely not what being Super Sonic feels like. However, on oddity is that he's floating in midair. He looks below him to see the creature with an energy saber embedded in Sonic's chest.

"_**I picked up that handy technique a while ago. One of my many new powers**_," Sonic clenched his teeth as he started to feel his blood leaving his body, and reached out to the emeralds again. The figure oblige Sonic's actions by slamming him on top of the chandelier, but not without taking his emerald away from him. "_**There is that better? You can die peacefully, knowing you did in fact find all the Chaos Emeralds**_,"

Sonic couldn't believe this. He risked everything, which really wasn't much since he already lost pretty much everything, but he still failed. Sonic's always been the winner, so this feeling of losing was brand new to Sonic. He always did the right thing, and he felt the universe would always give him his just deserts. Well he supposed he may as well stop believing in karma. However, Sonic was used to, at the least, being a minor annoyance. The figure needs the emeralds to become godlike, and the emeralds surround him right now. He had two choices. Either try to absorb their power to become a weak Super Sonic, or use his last bit of energy to tick off the guy.

Of course Sonic went with the latter.

"Well…thanks…but…I can't go…without leaving…a bad after taste…" Sonic moaned out smirking. He closed his eyes and then the emeralds began to react to him.

"_**Oh please, in your condition your super form would be putting you at an even more disadvantage. Granted it may extend your life for a few measly minutes**_,"

"Nothing like…that…just a little…magic…" Sonic smirked as he started to lose himself to the growing darkness. "Chaos…"

It was this time the figure knew what was happening and moved to stop Sonic. "CONTROL!"

The light was so powerful it blinded the creature and filled it with agony. However, it was only moments until the darkness settled back in and the figure regained itself. It then noticed the lack of seven gems on it's chandelier.

"_**RRRRAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!**_" it screamed. "_**His one last act of defiance! That idiot has scattered the emeralds all over again, and who knows where they went! The last bit of power surprised me, so it's a possibility that they've scattered all over the world maybe further then that!" **_Then it was this time that the hostile nature of the creature melted away for a more devilish sneer. Even though it lacked a mouth it still pulled it off quite well. Then it burst into hysterical laughter. "_**Good show Sonic the hedgehog, good show. I already have the planet blanketed in my darkness, and my monsters cover every inch of this planet. The emeralds with be back with me soon enough. All you've done in your final hour was delay the inevitable**_,"

The figure sat down on it's giant throne toward the back of the room. "_**While I wait I shall gather my strength for my resurrection form. I shall become, The Mephiles The Dark, once more. And then reclaim my godhood, so my darkness can spread even further…**_"

At this Mephiles closed his eyes as more of his darkness began to flow around him to form a cocoon of pure darkness.

* * *

"Sonic…hey Sonic wake up!" called a voice.

"Maybe he's dead," someone suggested.

"What sense does that make you knucklehead, we're all dead!" another voice snapped.

"Ya never know he could be…deader," the other voice responded.

"Sonic, please wake up…" a voice pleaded.

Sonic's eyes snapped open to a bright blue sky above him and the sun shining brightly. Sonic was so used to being in the dark that the sunlight was a little too much for him. Sonic put a hand over his eyes to block it. Sonic also noticed some very familiar figures.

"Oh, Sonic!" cried a girl voice and Sonic felt arms just latch onto him. Instincts told him who it was.

"A-Amy!" Sonic exclaimed slipping out of her grasp. "Whoa, okay what's going on?"

"Sonic its alright," Sonic looked to see his old buddy Tails.

"Tails…that you?" Sonic questioned in shock stepping closer toward the fox. Tails grabbed Sonic's hand with two of his. "I'm really glad to see you again, but I was kinda hoping I wouldn't ever see you like this,"

"What's going on here?" Sonic asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" asked a voice. Sonic looked to see the likes of Rouge, Shadow, and Knuckles. Rouge was the one who spoke. "You're dead, we all are,"

Sonic looked around. He saw everyone here Cream and Cheese, Miss Vanilla Rabbit, the Chaotix, and some of his other friends. Sonic looked around to see that they were at a place that resembled the shrine of the Master Emerald, but somehow it was different. It was as if someone took the ruins of the shrine, slapped some shiny coat the shrine, added fresh water, and basically having everything brand new. The shrine never looked like this, but somehow Sonic felt he experienced this before.

"Where are we exactly?" Sonic asked.

"Apparently, we've all been exposed to a lot of Chaos energy at one point or another. Since we all have dealt with the emeralds at one point or another. I at first thought this was heaven, but you noticed the lack of a crowd here," Tails began explaining. "But, I believe it's a brand new enigma all together. This place is somehow connected with all of us,"

"I believe that theory is valid. I sense an abundant amount of Chaos energy here," Shadow said.

"So, your saying, this place is made of pure what-cha-ma-call it energy?"

"Yeah, that's what we think," Tails said.

"Well who runs this place?"

"We don't know, but a voice does sometimes speak to us," Knuckles said.

"It's a voice everyone can hear…right?"

"Shut up!"

"_This meeting can now commence since our final member has arrived…_" came a mystical voice. Hearing it gave a soft tone of great power, and mystic energy. However, it struck Sonic as familiar.

"Yo, mystery voice, have we met somewhere?" Sonic asked.

"_Everyone stand before the Master Emerald, and all shall be explained_," Everyone gave each other looks. Then voluntarily everyone went toward the shrine. They walked up the steps and to the giant green emerald. The emerald let out a quick flash of light that blinded everyone.

"See, this is why I don't care for all this hocus pocus talk, I'm gonna eventually go blind when this is done," Sonic said waving his hands in front his eyes to test his vision.

"However, this "hocus pocus" may just be what is needed to save everyone," everyone returned their attention to the new speaker. A small collection of gasp came to follow.

"It's you!" Knuckles exclaimed.

"Somebody wanna fill me in?" Rouge asked.

"My name is Tikal," the girl said. She looked roughly around their age, but knew that she was far older then what she gave herself credit for. She wore a tribal gown, with soft blue eyes, knee high boots, her fur was a weak red, and a tiara around her head. "It is nice to see you all again, and nice to meet your acquaintance for some of you,"

"Wow, she's an echidna like Mr. Knuckles," Cream said.

Tikal smiled warmly. "Yes I am. Knuckles and I are from the same tribe,"

"So Knukie what other woman do you have hidden?" Rouge asked teasingly.

"I could ask you a similar question," Knuckles retorted.

"That's enough, you said you would give us an explanation. Now start talking," Shadow demanded.

If Tikal felt alarmed or worried with Shadow's tone she really didn't show it. "Yes, of course Shadow," Tikal waved her hands over the Master Emerald to give it a view of Earth. However, the picture was different. It lacked the clearness, the blueness, all that was seen was darkness. Everyone gasped. "As you all know, Mephiles the Dark has been resurrected. You all had a long grueling battle before with him when he was a godlike being known as Solaris. When Solaris was defeated both parts separated. Iblis was destroyed, but Mephiles survived in a pocket dimension. Growing stronger, and stronger. Until the day of reckoning,"

"We didn't stand a chance…" Tails muttered.

"Maybe if a certain blue hedgehog wasn't on his vacation in another dimension he would've realized what was going on sooner to help," Knuckles said glaring at Sonic.

"Hey, I did all I could, and do you think living there was a vacation? Ha, I had to risk my life there too!" Sonic retorted.

"Who cares about that, this your fault!"

"My fault?"

"If you were there we wouldn't be in this position right now,"

"You were short one guy Knuckles, one stinken guy. Before I left who assured me that things would be under control while I was away?" Knuckles growled. "Yeah, that's what I thought,"

"Guys…" Tails muttered weakly.

"You have a second chance," Tikal spoke up. At this every turned toward her in a stupor. "Because of Sonic's last desperate action he's placed us in a position to where we can try again,"

"Like an extra life?" Big the cat asked.

"Exactly,"

"Cool, and all we had to do to get it was die," Charmy said rolling his eyes.

"How will this plan of yours work?" Espio asked curiously.

"There are seven opportunities," Tikal said making everyone look at her curiously. "You see the Chaos Emeralds are what are needed. Those of you with the strongest chaos energy shall be pulled into a chaos emerald. That is where your spirit will dwell,"

"So…what about bodies?" Vector asked.

"Can't save the world without a good pair of legs," Sonic said.

"That…is where the part luck comes in," Tikal said sweating a bit.

"Luck?" Amy asked.

"You see, you wont be able to do anything once inside the emerald. You've bonded with it which means there nothing that can be done once inside,"

"Then what's the point of this caper?" Shadow asked.

"The Chaos Emeralds will work differently with your spirits inside. Whoever holds your specific emerald will obtain all your powers, skills, and weaponry,"

"Okay….still waiting for the good part," Rouge said.

"I can sense that there are those on the planet willing to fight to be rid of this darkness that has spread. My hope is that your respective emerald will fall into the right hands. Your powers will be endowed to a new breed of heroes willing to fight a good fight,"

"How will we know if this person is the right person?" Tails asked.

"By your energies being able to become synched to allow pure harmony between both spirits,"

"Word," Sonic said with a peace sign.

"Now please select the six who wish to participate,"

"Six?" everyone asked.

"I shall be accompanying you. I can tell you all with need guidance when you meet your Carriers,"

"Carriers?" Cream asked.

"Or Chaos Wilders if you prefer,"

"Well we already have a rock solid team ready!" Sonic stated while pumping his fist in the air. "We got Tails, I guess Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, Shadow, and of course me!"

"Hey we wanna help too!" Charmy exclaimed.

"Yes, we would like to assist," Cream spoke up as well.

"I don't think that would be best Cream," said Miss Vanilla.

Tikal scratched her chin. "Ah, I know. We don't have seven options, we have eight," Everyone looked at her confused. "The Master Emerald of course. I will bond my spirit with that one. I may be able to squeeze you three in one," Tikal said referring to the Chaotix. Tikal looked down to Cream. "And I have special place for you, and you'll be very helpful," Cream smiled.

"Alright, let's do it to it!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Alright, is everyone ready?" Tikal asked.

"Do you even need to ask we're more then ready for a round two with that creep?" Amy exclaimed.

"Good," Tikal said smiling. Suddenly green energy sprung around her hands as she focused. "_**The servers are, the seven Chaos...**_"she began. Suddenly each one of them began glowing a respective color of one of the Chaos Emeralds. "_**Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart…**_" The seven Chaos Emeralds appeared on the pillars behind the shrine the Master Emeralds sat. It began drawing in the spirits of each of them "_**The Controller is the one who unifies the Chaos…**_" The Master Emerald behind her began to glow brightly also drawing her in. "_**Allow us the power to purge the darkness, and bring forth light!**_"

Another flash of blinding light exploded that was completely and utterly overpowering for the eyes. The light was so bright that it took a few minutes before everyones sight returned.

"Wow, their gone…" Cream muttered.

"Lets hope they end up in capable hands…" said Miss Vanilla.

* * *

(One year later)

A bright navy blue emerald lies on the ground motionless. It looked like an ordinary gem, but obviously it wasn't. A hand reached down to pick it up. The hand belonged to a mere child of rough 14 years.

"Wonder what this is?" he said.

* * *

**_A/N: _**Yes, I finally got the first part out to give everyone a taste. So yeah this is my thought. Now I'm offering parts. That's right you can have your very own chance to be apart of this. Details are on my profile, and please PM me the specific details I asked for on my profile. Please feel free to get back to me. Hope to fight along side you!


	2. Introductions

_**The Wielders of Chaos part 2**_

**_"A Series of Misfortunate Events,"_**

Darkness…that's what filled the sky nowadays, the darkness of despair and fear, and darkness of evil. At the moment the greenery of the land has become grey, dull, and lifeless. The trees barred and once lushes field completely devoid of any greenery. A once calm soothing wind has now become a cold harsh blow. Bodies of water turning black instead of a crystal clear blue. It was always difficult to tell if it was day, or night with the lack of a sun. Some people have actually taken their own lives to escape the seemingly eternal despair. Hope, was a word that was looked down on, and it died a long time ago. Everyone's hope rested on their hero, and he failed them. The hero that's brought the planet from the brink numerous times, has finally lost. Because of the fall of such a titan it was no surprise the bleak situation only began to get bleaker when multiple power hungry tyrants decided to rear their heads. The hero always put these tyrants in check, but with his fall they claimed the world belonged to them. However, the silver lining in this situation is the common enemy that exists. This enemy kept them all at bay, which in turn caused these tyrants to set their sights on the common enemy.

This enemy was the one who brought this darkness upon the world, and who killed the heroes who protected it. This enemy was able to spread his darkness across the planet meaning there was nothing that was beyond his sight, nothing beyond his reach, and no where anyone could run. In truth the tyrants had created safe havens for the oppressed and powerless. This brought a sort of comfort to them, but the question always lingered on everyone's lips.

Why hasn't he simply destroyed this planet?

It was always a constant fear, along with his monsters that roam the land restlessly. As if…searching for something. They beast rarely attacked the innocent, oddly enough, and the enemy did not tamper with their lives that much. They still worked, they still lived, they still went to school, and they still did things they would regularly do. However, it was often when the enemy had completely decimated a town or two out of simple boredom, or just flexing his all powerful muscles. This was a common occurrence, as was the belittling of the hopers. Apparently, in this time of age, hoping is a bad thing. To be hopeful and look on the brighter side of things was looked down upon. To remember how things were only a mere year ago was considered daydreaming. This was the life the people expected to live until the enemy tired of them and simply got rid of the planet.

However, hope is a light that can never truly fade. Sometimes you can find it in the most odd places…

A boy sits on a rock on a hill looking over the bleak horizon. He stares deeply at the forest trails, and the giant savannah that lies beyond that. He sighed, "I remember when this place used to be the most beautiful spot in Soleana Forest," he said.

He was one of those people. Who dared to dream, dared to wish that things would return to normal. He was mocked endlessly by his peers, and looked down upon by most adults. Some kids even went as far as beating him up just for trying to imagine what the sun feels like. He doesn't understand why they feel this way, or why they think they have to live like this. However, he supposed it had something to do with the fall of the world renowned hero. The enemy was smart to suck out the hope of the people by basically parading around the body all over the planet, so every single being could see their hero.

His hero.

He did indeed look up to the hero. He had to admit it was pretty insane of him to charge headfirst into danger singly handedly. However, the boy knew better, because in some way the hero did save everyone. He was sure the planet would be gone by now, but a rumor went around that the hero had severely injured the enemy. The rumor states that it'll take the enemy about 500 years to recover from.

The boy sighed at that last part. Obviously, the rumor wasn't exact but it was obvious that the hero did do something that is delaying the inevitable. He just wished that someone would do something before things really get worse. As time past the darkness gets thicker, and the beasts more savage. The boy brought his knees to his chest as he continued to stare out at the decimated that lies before him.

"Hey overlander!" called a sharp voice.

The boy sighed knowing who this was. "My name is Miles, Eddy, I thought you knew that by now," the boy responded. Not turning his head.

"Well your still an overlander. Just because most of the overlander cities are gone doesn't mean can just lie around here," said another high snippy voice that let on that this person was way to energetic.

"Soleana is a overlander city Peck," Miles responded. "To be technical you're the one that doesn't belong, honestly,"

"Still got that sharp tongue," said a deep voice. This one Miles knew the most because of the dark gloom and doom personality he carried. He was the leader of the band of rejects that take it upon themselves to terrorize overlanders.

Overlanders are just another word for humans that some of the anthroporphisms use. Overlanders used to run the entire planet, but through some freak happening these animals began to acquire human characteristics. Some of these characteristics also included giving them incredible abilities. What is regularly called super powers. These animals coexisted with them, and despite the discomfort of the human race they learned to adjust to them since one of them just so happen to be the hero of the planet. The hero didn't care who or what you were, if you were in trouble you could count on him to save the day, point blank. In a way this hero symbolized that these two greatly different races could coexist and get along with each other. However, when his death came around lines were crossed and fingers were pointed. The delicate balance between these two different enigmas began to try and find a scapegoat in each other. Sad really how things could fall apart. However it wasn't so bad that they discriminated against each other though, so Miles supposed that was the only up side.

"Yeah, Black, you know me," Miles said finally turning to face the group. Miles himself was dressed with black pants, a blue shirt, black short sleeved button up shirt, and his shoes were modeled after his hero just black with a white strip. Miles is fourteen years old black male with black hair that's a low cut. "You guys still wanna mess with me?"

"I don't get why you have all these hopes and dreams in your head. I mean, you should be the last one whose hopeful," said Eddy. Eddy is a big brown bear, with a golden sleeveless shirt on with dull golden eyes.

"Yeah, you are like 'I hope to see the sun one day' and you look all depressed sitting on a rock," Peck threw in jarring as usual. Peck is a roadrunner, white gloves, a cyan sleeveless shirt, dark blue feathers, and cyan eyes.

"Plus you wear a lot of dark colors. Doesn't exactly say hopeful," said Black. Black is a hedgehog, just like his hero. His quills are pointed up thanks to some gel he uses, black fur, grey eyes, white gloves with black wristbands, black shoes, and finally a sleeveless black jacket for him.

"Thanks for your concern guys, but I think I'll be fine," Miles said as he slid off his rock then began to walk back toward the city.

Peck zipped in front of him. "Nu uh, you can't go back until we get to the bottom of this,"

"Bottom of what?" Miles inquired. Miles deep down was a little afraid. Three against one, and these guys were no joke. Miles was confident in his fighting ability to be able to take these guys. He does know simple self defense, but it'll hardly do any good against them.

"What makes you tick!" Eddy barked shoving Miles roughly making Miles almost fall over. "Your parents are dead from trying to fight the enemy, and you live in some crummy apartment all by yourself. No one is there for you, all you got is yourself,"

"So?"

"So," Black interjected. "We're curious, do you know something we don't? Or are you just to slow to come to grips with what's going on,"

"My parents may be gone, but that doesn't mean I have to be a shell of a person," Miles said sternly.

"You wear more black then I do, and it's my name,"

"I'm in morning for this meadow,"

"You just think your better then everybody else don't you," Eddy said shoving Miles again, dangerously close to the steep hill. Miles glanced down it cautiously as he gained his footing.

"That's stupid, why would I feel I'm better then you guys. You're the town's ruffians, and the village idiots. I'm jealous that you guys hold such prestigious titles," Miles tended not to know his place, or when to not speak. His parents often told him it would get him in some pretty sticky situations. This is probably what they meant.

"Village idiots!" Eddy barked. "You got some nerve-,"

Eddy stepped forward, but Black quickly halted him by putting his hand up. "You only say mean things cause you don't know how have a friend do you? We may be village idiots, but my counting is pretty good, and I say we outnumber you in more ways then one," Black smirked. "So go ahead and shout out all that bravado that you admired your '_hero_' so much for. At the end of the day if you disappeared no one would give damn,"

Miles looked visibly hurt by those words, and he wished he could do something. However, he knew his chances of walking away from this one unscathed were slim. Miles glanced back down the hill again then sighed. "Alright, do your worst,"

"Gladly," Eddy said smiling as he pushed Miles right over the edge of the hill. Miles took a harsh tumble down the steep hill. It was once covered in grass, but with the barren of the land the ground lost it's softness making the tumble quite painful. Miles began to pick up speed as he fell making it near impossible to gain any control of himself as he tumbled. Miles knew though that he had to keep his body in tight as he rolled that way when he reached the end of his _ride_ that nothing will be broken. After it seemed like ages to Miles he finally hit the bottom and began to tumble out the bend of the hill.

Miles quickly looked back up to see his pursers were not done with him just yet. Miles cursed as he rose to his feet and began to dash in a random direction as fast as he could. He knew Peck being the faster of the three would probably catch him in not time, so he relied on weaving through the trees. He made sure not to run in a straight path. Speed meant nothing if you couldn't control it properly. Miles often swerved in numerous directions especially when he began to hear footfalls get closer. Miles honestly thought he could at least take Peck down. One on one would still probably get him killed, but he'd at least have a fighting chance.

Miles quickly ducked out behind a giant tree. He noticed that he was nearing the old Soleana Castle, and if this chase continued they eventually wonder into Kingdom Valley, which was strictly off limits due to monsters. Kingdom Valley was the best way to leave Soleana, so of course monsters would be crawling all over that area. Miles really didn't want to see just how vicious those things were in person. Miles stuck his head out to see if he could find a trace of any of his pursers.

"Surprise!" yelled Peck who came from behind to punch Miles in the back of the head. Momentum and force put together was strong enough to throw Miles to the ground. Obvious he didn't move far enough.

"Hold him for me Peck!" called Eddy. With Eddy's brute strength he was liable to leave with broken bones.

Miles quickly tried to get to his feet to run, but Peck was quick and grabbed both Miles's arms. Miles was pulled to his feet, but was unable to resist the roadrunners tight grip. Eddy stepped forward cracking his knuckles with Black standing behind him looking smug. Miles struggled more against Peck but was unable to be free.

"Eddy hurry up, he's starting to get annoying," Peck said.

Eddy obliged by sending his big paw into Miles's stomach making Miles cough, than proceeded to give him a good hook punch in the face. Eddy was basically punching him like he was a mere punching bag, and Miles was beginning to lose all feeling. "You said do my worst," Miles stared dazedly back at him.

"Come on Eddy hurry up we don't got all day," Black said tapping his foot.

"Alright Black chill one more. Peck try and get his head up," Eddy said. Peck obliged and brought Miles's head to look at Eddy. "Bet you wish you weren't so smug now," Eddy said smirking.

Eddy pulled back his fist to deliver the final blow. Miles cringed at the fogy image before him.

"_Better move kid_," came a voice. Miles was surprised by the voice, but his vision instantly got clear his alertness snapped back into him. Miles snapped his head to the side, and lucky enough Eddy's final punch missed him narrowly and instead found it's way into Peck's beak. Peck instantly let go of Miles, and Eddy was pretty flustered at what just happened so Miles's escape went unhindered. Black quickly caught their attention saying he was getting away again.

Miles thought he was lucky, but something like that would definitely not happen again. Miles ran onward knowing that he was nearing Kingdom Valley and hoped the idiots wouldn't chase him knowing of it's dangers. Unfortunately, the footfalls behind him told him that the Village idiots were definitely earning their name quite well. Why he was tortured by them he could never truly figure out, and why he was looked down upon he never knew either. His parents were G.U.N agents, and did their job well and with pride. They died in action on their last mission to confront the enemy, or at least Miles just never saw them again. Family ties were weak, almost nonexistent. He's sure he has uncles and aunts, it's only Gaia knows where they are. Why did they feel they had to pick on him?

Miles didn't get the answer he was looking for when he tripped and fell on something. Miles was panicked as he turned to see how close his pursers are. He noticed they were closing in, but he could get up and run off again. However, the object he tripped on caught his eye. Miles stared at it completely enthralled in it's beauty. He was unsure of what it was, but he knew it was pretty. Miles reached for it and picked it up. He held it in his hands looking the object over. Miles recognized it as an emerald. However, it was unlike any emerald he had ever seen. First it was navy blue not green, second it was glowing, and third he was positive the thing was pulsating. It filled him with some sort of energy, energy that helped him jump to his feet. He felt safer all of a sudden. He looked to his pursers, and suddenly he did something he thought he would never do.

He stood his ground.

His pursers quickly came up to him. "Damn Soleana and it's huge ass fields," Black cursed.

"At least he finally stopped and decided to take his beating before we ended up in Kingdom Valley," Eddy said.

"Hey guys, hey guys, lookie what the overlander has there!" cried Peck. Both animals looked at Miles's hand to see a navy blue emerald. Black's greedy eyes were surprised then he smirked.

"Okay, I see what this is. A deal, you give us the emerald, and we don't beat you up, right?" Black asked. "I say deal, just hand it over,"

"…" Miles was silent. Miles stared into the emerald for a moment, and suddenly the emerald let out a powerful blinding navy blue light. It blinded the three brutes for a moment, but when their vision returned they noticed Miles was still there in the same position.

"Okay, weird, lets just beat the emerald off him Black," Peck suggested.

"Well we would anyway, so might as well," Black said shrugging. The three began their approach until they noticed Miles look at them. They were surprised to see Miles's eyes. They were not brown as they usually are, but green.

"Actually guys…" Miles started his voice much chipper. "I think I'll keep this emerald, and give you guys the beating,"

The three were shocked still, then they burst into fits of hysterical laughter. They laughed even harder to see he was serious.

"O-Oh, gosh, Peck…j-just hold him so I can hit the stupid out of him," Eddy said getting over his fits.

Peck was quick to push aside his chuckles and shoot behind around to come at Miles from behind. Miles rolled his eyes as he stepped to the side while sticking out his leg to trip the roadrunner. The roadrunner went flying toward the other group members who moved to avoid him. They turned to him surprised. Black motioned for Eddy to just take him, and Eddy did just that. Eddy went hard with fast jabs with both hands. However, no matter how hard or fast he swung Miles was quick to move out of the way. Miles tilted his body to and fro to avoid each fist to fly past him.

"You say I'm stupid, seems to me someone can't hit a moving target~," Miles sang slightly. Outraged, Eddy threw a hay-maker that in all honesty was poorly executed. His stance was all wrong, and arch didn't exactly fit the term hay-maker. Nevertheless, Miles leaned back underneath the fist going so far back that his head almost touched the ground. "Whoa, that was a pretty nasty punch there. I'd stick to hitting things that can't move if I were you,"

Eddy lost his balance from that poorly executed haymaker. Miles took this chance to ram his elbow into the bear's gut. Miles then quickly turned around to swing his leg into the roadrunner that was trying to sneak up on him. Peck was sent rolling across the ground not believing the strength that kick held. Eddy was quick to come back trying to wrap his arms around Miles, who quickly performed a handstand on the bears head. Miles then brought his knee into the center of the bears face giving a nice headache to the bear.

"Get this kid away from me," Eddy said swinging at Miles who was approaching him, but all his swings were useless being that Miles was too fast.

"Right here big guy," Miles taunted exposing his right cheek. Eddy swung his fist as hard as he could in a hook punch. Miles was quick to crouch down to avoid. Inadvertently, again Peck tried to grab Miles from behind and ended up getting on nasty headache. Peck was out cold after that. "Alright everyone nap time!" Miles exclaimed as he gave the bear a strong upper cut. This upper cut was strong enough to launch the bear off his feet and onto his back dazed. "Hey, why'd everyone fall asleep on me?"

"Not everyone," said a voice. Miles turned to narrowly avoid a stick that narrowly missed his face. He was able to duck just in time. "You freak!"

Black swung the stick downward, but Miles jumped back. Miles quickly moved faster then even Peck as broke the stick by stepping on it, and giving Black a good hay-maker in the jaw. Black was also down for the count considering that wasn't a love tap. Miles sighed.

"Wow, it's been a while since I've done this," Miles said looking at his hands. He reached in his pocket to pull out the navy blue emerald.

"_W-What…just happened…did I…but…I couldn't_-,"

"You're welcome kid, these guys were jerks. A little beat down was good for them," Miles said, but his voice changed into something very different.

"_W-wait…who is this! What's going on! Why can I not control my body!_"

"Okay, let's not freak out okay. I can explain, but first we'd better get outta here," '_Miles'_ suddenly heard a growl from behind him. He turned to see dark beasts all gathering around him. "Uh oh, these things again,"

"_Those are the Dark Feral!_"

"Well I can't let them take this emerald. Kid, I'm gonna need to borrow your body for a little while. Sorry for being pushy, but I saw you were in trouble and wanted to help. It was pretty obvious why those guys didn't like you ya know,"

"_I-it was?_"

"Yeah, they were jealous. Jealous how someone who lost so much could possibly have hope in these bleak times," _'Miles'_took a fighting stance as the beast began to approach. "No worries though, since now that I got a good pair of legs, it's time to save the day," he said charging forward. In one motion the entity made Miles's body curl up. As he curled the emerald let out a glow and suddenly blue energy quills shot out his back and head. _Miles_ curled up then smashed through the armies worth of monsters tearing them apart in mere moments. The blue spin ball smashed through every single one of them taking care of the so called unstoppable monsters with ease. _Miles_screeched to a halt smirking, but then he nearly collapsed. "Uh oh, this isn't my body, and I forgot it's limits are different. Better get him somewhere safe," He soon realized that more of the creatures were coming toward him. He turned to the three animals laying on the ground. He frowned, but stirred the leader, Black. "Alright Black, you should've learned your lesson. Take you bozos and get outta here, now!"

He stood up away from Black who was still quite dazed, and took off toward the monsters to confront them. The real Miles could only see everything, but his body was beyond his control. _Miles_ charged at the first creature head on. He used his hands to smash the beast's face into the dirt then push off of it to slam his sneakers into another ones head. He leaped forward to vault over a vicious pounce from another one the monsters. _Miles_ looked in a direction then another to gain an idea of how many there were. Five surrounded him, and more were quickly coming. He smirked then shot out in a burst of speed. His legs were moving in a blur and the world began passing at an incredible pace. Seeing the world go by so fast put a bigger smirk on _Miles_'s face.

"_Uh…excuse me, but…what, or who are you?_" the real Miles spoke.

A smile. "Just call me Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

The person introduced himself as he began pounding away at the ranks of monsters. Sonic, controlling Mile's body jumped up to slam his knee on another Dark Feral's head. At the same time he grabbed the front legs of the beast and pulling. This made the creature shot out a cry of immense pain. In order to wane the pain of their comrade the others moved in quickly. Sonic jumped off the creature performing a big air back flip. The creatures lunged at him in midair. Sonic slammed his left forearm on the creatures head as he gave a bone breaking kick into the neck of the other creature. Sonic touched down on the ground then shot forward again. The Chaos Emerald began glowing brightly putting around a navy blue barrier around Miles's body. In a flash Sonic did away with all the monsters in flash, a simple blow of the wind.

Sonic whipped the body around to gain traction enough to change direction. The Dark Ferals obviously realized that they were facing an opponent beyond them. They quickly gathered around each other. Then this dark aura began to pulsate around their bodies. Then their bodies began losing their shapes and began to form one entity. Sonic raised an eyebrow at the show. The creature grew three times in size towering over the boy/hedgehog.

The creature was about as big as a normal size house, purple streaks covered it's body as it did for the smaller Dark Feral, only it form was much spikier and fiercer. The black claws were much bigger on its paws, purple eye lids, and if it opened its mouth there be nothing but purple energy flowing inside. The creature after all was simply made of pure dark energy simply brought to life. All it took to defeat one was to smash it apart.

"Interesting," Sonic said looking the beast over. "Looks like my newest adventure is gonna be packed with monsters!"

"_If you don't mind, I'd like my body, ya know all connected_," Miles said.

"Sure, you got it kid,"

The beast lunged for him, but Sonic performed a dodge roll to the side to land on the side of the beast. The beast turned it's tail sharply to smack him, but Sonic performed a skyward somersault to avoid it. Sonic then landed on the head of the creature then grabbed onto two of it's horns with each hand respectively. Sonic felt the body he was in was strange, not regular like most humans. Sonic knew immediatelythat the kid had some sort of special ability about him, but Sonic felt he would worry about it later. The beast began to charge and thrash around all over the place. Sonic found his grip loosening, but quickly held strong. The beast began charging in random directions, so Sonic quickly tried to gain some form of control. Sonic jerked the horns around sharply to get the best to follow the direction he wanted it to go. To make the jerking stop the beast obliged finally charging in Sonic's preferred direction.

Right toward a solid rock wall.

Sonic smirked as he placed his feet over the beast's eyes. "No peeking, this is gonna be a surprise," The beast kept going, until eventually Sonic deemed they were close enough. "Surprise!" Sonic said leaping off the beast and watching as it charged full speed face first into the side of a cliff. The beast was dazed from such a heavy attack. "Ouch, that's gonna be one ugly headache,"

The beast was stumbling around a bit as it moved. Sonic saw his chance as he charged toward as fast as he could at such a short distance. He didn't want to over do it since this body was definitelynot used to going at such speeds. Sonic leaped forward also grabbing one of horns on the side of the beast's face. Combining his weight, strength, and momentum Sonic was able to force the creatures face into the rock wall again. This was enough to make the creature collapse on it's side. Sonic kicked off the wall when he touched it and was currently airborne above the creature. Sonic saw it defenseless, deemed the fight over. The Chaos Emerald began glowing again, and then blue energy quills shot out his head and back. Sonic began his sonic spin attack as he dive bombed the creature. Sonic smashed into the creatures stomach, but the force was so great it severed the creature in two halves. The impact was like a giant shock-wave, or like a meteorite hitting the ground.

Sonic was actually a little put off by the display of power. "Wow, I have to admit...I've never done something like that before,"

"_WHAT"S GOING ON!_" Miles's voice rang out for an explanation.

Sonic turned his head to see that three bullies were peaking their heads out from behind a tree, but upon noticing his gaze ran outta there like death was on their tail. Sonic smirked. "How about we continue this conversation at your place," Sonic suggested.

* * *

**_A/N: _**Hey everyone. So yeah, I added a huge part to this since I felt it was seriously lacking in effect. The hero's appereance is supposed to show off a great display of skill and give off the air of being unstoppable. I felt that wasn't exactly achieved by him beating up a few guys. So yeah that the flow of the story so far. I'm still accepting people who want to join in as well. Please,please, please, review...please...


	3. The Rebirth of a Super Sonic Hero

_**The Wielders of Chaos part 3**_

"_**A Supersonic Hero, Reborn"**_

A door quickly opened then slammed shut. There stood Miles trying to catch his breathe after today's activities. Miles inhaled deeply then exhaled just as hard trying desperately to calm his heart that was beating so fast he thought it might burst. His body felt like it was moving through pudding as he navigated to his bed on the other side of the apartment. The apartment he lived in was adequate, and was quite livable. It was clearly cleaned often. The bed sat underneath a window that had a spectacular view of the city below. The window displayed the dark sky and also revealed the room was about two stores up, soft wood floor that only creaked slightly underneath his feet, a stove was against the wall closer to the door, and the fridge sat adjacent to it. The kitchen area was tiled instead of a wood flooring, and a small dining table sat on the kitchen portion of the room as well. A ceiling fan hung on the ceiling of the small room, the roof only sitting a mere three meters from the floor, but performed it task well enough. Miles was starving, but he was simply too weak to eat. He dragged himself over to his full size bed then collapsed onto it. He threw off his top shirt, and kicked off his sneakers.

"_Funny, those guys said your apartment was crummy. To me it seems more... homey…_"

"Thanks for that Mr. Sonic," Miles said his face in the pillow. Miles reached to his pocket to pull out the blue emerald then placed it close to his face. "So…explain, Mr. Sonic, how you got in there, and controlled my body,"

"_No need for the mister stuff kid, just call me Sonic_,"

"Well then I guess you can just call me Miles,"

"_Really, a friend of mine is named Miles too!_" Miles raised an eyebrow. Miles was quite familiar with the crowd Sonic hung out with, as was everyone. So it was easy to see he was put off with such a person with such a regular name hanging out with the hero of the planet. Overlanders called it Earth, while Mobians called it Mobius. Than again Miles realized that he was associated with the hedgehog now. "_Yeah, but I'm sure you want that explanation first. Okay, yeah, I died during that battle with Mephiles a little over a year ago, but what he doesn't know is my soul has bonded with this emerald_,"

"How did you do that?" Miles asked trying to sound excited but just simply too exhausted.

"_Some hocus pocus I don't understand_," Miles sighed. "_I do know that you now have all my powers, and with our powers together we can make a pretty good team_,"

"Team?" Miles asked confused. Also a little put off that Sonic claimed he himself had powers.

"_Yeah, ya see all that stuff I did in your body really exhausted you. If I had stayed in control a little longer like that I might've over exerted your body, and probably woulda killed ya. I'm a little surprise you body did last as long as it did with me in control. I'm glad you didn't like explode_,"

"Die, explode, death, explode, explode!" Miles was starting to get a little more awake with the mentioning of death. "Can you explain that again?"

The emerald was silent, so obviously Sonic wasn't very familiar with the mechanics either. "_Tikal explained it to us. She said that it's taken us many years to become as powerful as we are now. She said that it was best we ease our powers onto our carriers so we don't overwhelm them with our powers…or something like that_,"

Miles tried to make heads or tails of the weak explanation. "So…basically…your powers are too great for me to handle all at once so…I have to learn how to use them bit by bit,"

"_Yeah, that's it_,"

Miles turned in his bed to stare at the ceiling. "Wow, I can't believe it…I'm actually talking to Sonic the hedgehog…"

"_Whoa, don't go all fanboy on me_,"

"Sorry…I just wish…my folks…" Miles went silent as he turned his back to the emerald. The emerald titled to the side a bit as if that would help give it a better look.

"_Miles, what's wrong?_"

"…Nothing…listen Sonic…I know you want me to be this big time hero and all, and I bet as soon as I rest up that we gotta head out to beat the enemy. I just think you should find someone else,"

"_What? Why?_" Sonic asked.

"Well for starters, why should I?" Miles turned to stare at the ceiling. "I don't owe the world anything,"

"_Well for starters, I haven't been able to bond with anyone like that before. Unless, you got another friend that has the exact same skills you do?_"

"I don't want to Sonic. I don't want to save a world that's ungrateful,"

"_Well, since I'm the first one of my friends to find a carrier it's gotta be us that starts this journey ya know_,"

"Did you not hear that I'm not interested?"

"_We have a bond remember. I can tell your heart really does want to do this, so I'm just gonna tune out your voice. You should really listen to your heart more_,"

"Why listen? It's all a waste. I can't beat the enemy, and since I'm not ready to use your full powers I'll be crushed before I could even get to his castle. I mean that spin attack of yours already gets me sick,"

"_Ah, you'll get used to it,"_

"How does that work exactly?"

The emerald was silent yet again. Miles sighed at the fact that his guide knew next to nothing of how things worked. "_Okay…it's got something to do with chaos energy…I think it's like the energy substitutes for our skills, or something…_"

"We'll figure it out later, but right now I gotta sleep," Miles said.

"_Alright, but try not to sleep too long_,"

And just like that Miles was out like a light. Sonic sighed from inside his emerald prison. He had to admit this was better then just lying in a hole somewhere. Now that Sonic had come in contact with Miles the emeralds powers began to reactivate. Sonic used the floating ability of the emerald to navigate the room. Sonic at first was shakily moving up then stopping in midair. The emerald then began moving around the room scanning it. Sonic floated over to a shelf filled with a couple of books here and there. The boy was a reader, a fiction reader. Sonic floated to the top shelf to see a pair of black fingerless gloves right next to a photo. Sonic made the glow of the emerald brighter so he could see the picture in the dim light.

Sonic was easily able to make out Miles, a bit younger in the picture. He had the same haircut he does now in the picture. Sonic noticed his eyes had a bit more life in the picture. Then Sonic looked at the other two people in the picture with him. Sonic saw a black male, and black female. They looked to be young maybe in their late twenties, or early thirties. The man was well-muscled thick upper torso, since that's all that could be seen for both, save Miles who was chest up. The man has a thin beard around his mouth, his eyes just like Miles's stern, but gentle. The woman was quite beautiful he had to admit. Flawless skin with brown eyes just like Miles, and the man, her facial features were also like Miles's. She also sported a fit body of her own. Obviously being physically fit was a family thing.

Sonic safely assumed that this was Miles's family. Sonic frowned as he turned back to the room. He immediately noticed the lack of anything that could possibly entertain company. Miles didn't even have another chair at the eating table. Sonic surmised that Miles lived alone, in more ways than one. Sonic glanced back at the family portrait again, and he suddenly noticed something. Upon looking closer he saw that both Miles's parents had on G.U.N uniforms. Sonic instantly felt that great pang of guilt hit him. Being the hero of the world he's supposed to deal with monsters like Mephiles and let the military do clean up. Sonic put two and two together and figured that his parents died trying to do a job that he himself was supposed to do.

Sonic felt somewhat conflicted to allow Miles to go on this journey, but Sonic knew it was too late. They had already formed a bond, and Tikal explained that breaking that bond was a definite no-no. Sonic couldn't remember the details, but he knew the end result was not something he wanted for himself or Miles especially. Sonic brought the emerald in park on the window seal just above Miles's bed. Sonic watched the dark shadow like clouds swish in the sky. Obviously, Mephiles had felt the defeat of one of is monsters. Sonic knew Mephiles would most likely send a response. The one thing Sonic did know was now that he was revealed the monsters could probably find him. Staying in one place while trying to avoid a person that has the entire planet in his palm was not a good way to start a journey.

Sonic looked at the scarcely light night of Solenana, the beautiful city has seen better days. Sonic thought back to the day he breezed through the streets. He wonders how the princess is doing at this time. Sonic thought on these things for quite a while as he allowed Miles to sleep. Sonic then noticed that the lights from below were actually moving. Sonic looked closer trying to pierce through the darkness with his eyes. Upon studying the shadows Sonic was able to gather that they were forms of people moving carrying torches. Sonic at first thought this odd, but then realized he noticed a few familiar figures leading the long line of people. Sonic wasn't very familiar with this world, but he knew an angry mob when he saw one. He also was aware of the three who were leading the mob. Black, Peck, and Eddy, the village idiots.

Sonic huffed in irritation. "_I guess this world really is ungrateful like he says_," Sonic muttered. "_But, we may not be the hero they want they still need us though_," Sonic was aware that this darkness over the land probably had something to do with this plague of despair. The best thing he could do was start the search for the other Chaos Emeralds i.e. his friends. However, this mob seemed to have other plans seeing as the ones who gathered the mob was explaining why they were there. "_Every mob needs their motivation I suppose_," Sonic turned to the sleeping form of Miles who was stirring restlessly. Sonic thought he was having a nightmare feeling the sense of dread coming off him in waves. "_Miles, hey Miles wake up_," No response. Sonic placed himself in Miles's open hand. "_Miles!"_

Miles jolted up from his sleep breathing deeply to catch his breathe. "W-What happened?"

"_Angry mob outside, might wanna leave, like now_,"

"What!" Miles sat up quickly then looked down below then at the sky his face fell. "Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no…" Miles repeated over and over getting off his bed.

"_Miles it's just a mob with pitchforks, torches, death threats, and the strong chance of being ran out of town. No, biggie_,"

"That's not what concerns me. The sky Sonic, the sky," Miles said quickly trying to gather himself in the darkness of the room. Sensing Sonic's confusion Miles explained. "The sky only gets like that when Darklord Mephiles unleashes hell,"

"_Darklord_?"

"Damn, I can barley see!" Miles barked. Sonic knew that a kid Miles's age shouldn't be talking like that. Sonic assisted by glowing bright enough so Miles could find the light switch. Miles quickly flipped it then sighed with relief upon having light. Miles decided to move quickly. "Listen Sonic, apparently I may either be leaving by free will or by force, but either way I can't stay here anymore. That means that I wont have anywhere to go, so I guess until we can find someone better for you…I'll be your carrier…"

"_Ya mean it?_" Sonic asked sounding like a little kid. Miles rolled his eyes and nods. "_Hurray_!"

Miles strapped up his shoes, and then walked over to his shelf. He hesitated slightly reaching for the fingerless gloves, but whatever feeling he had was pushed aside as he slid them both on. Miles left his short sleeve button up shirt for a black sleeveless jacket. Sonic studied that the jacket wasn't leather like Black's, but made of a cotton like material. Miles smirked.

"Ya know, Black wasn't always the leader of that band of misfits,"

Sonic raised an eyebrow from inside the emerald. Miles grabbed a belt then pulled it through the loops of his paints. Miles also placed a clip on the side of his belt than he grabbed the floating emerald then placed it in the right side of his belt. The emerald clicked perfectly into place. This way he wouldn't have to carry a big emerald in his pocket the whole time, and he would know it's secure. Miles grabbed a backpack from under his bed, grabbed a few bits of food, and lastly grabbed the portrait on the shelf. He took the picture out the frame gently then placed it in his pocket. Suddenly, he heard the cries of the mob outside.

"I guess they finally got the motivation they needed," Miles said putting on his backpack. Miles grabbed his wallet off the window ledge then shut off the light. He looked down below to see parts of the mob flooding into the building. He could hear them all storming up the stairs. "I see they aren't concerned with the other guest,"

Miles moved to his window to unlock it. He opened it up then looked down to see parts of the mob remained. Upon seeing him the mob turned into an uproar.

"CURSE YOU!"

"KEEP YOUR IDEALS TO YOURSELF!"

"LOOK WHAT YOU'VE BROUGHT UPON US!"

"LEAVE US BE!"

"NOW WE WILL LOSE OUR HOMES, ALL THANKS TO YOU!"

"YOU JUST HAD TO PLAY HERO!"

After a while the screams became redundant to Miles, but they obviously were upset that he had defeated one of Mephiles's monsters. Now Mephiles was either gonna send down his wrath from above, or just send in a bigger and badder monster. From the horizon he could make out a monster like figure approaching so he assumed it was the latter. It seemed to be coming from the sky bringing a new type of darkness with it. The city was barley lighten up as it is, now this new entity was gonna take what's left of the light. Miles put one foot on the window seal and upon noticing what he was about to do the mob encouraged him to jump. Miles really couldn't believe these people, Mobians and Humans alike acting like such mongrels.

"_Well at least they're getting along_," Sonic threw in his two cents to make the situation less heavy.

"Thanks for finding the silver lining in this Sonic,"

"_It's what I do_,"

Miles suddenly heard his door kicked open. Miles turned his head to see the other half of the mob in the hall and some of them entered his room. All of them enter cautiously. A man in the front of the mob approached. The flame from his torch brought a dark look to his face. He has brown hair that draped over his face, his eyes dull, and shockingly enough a police uniform. To think a Soleana policeman was gonna try and arrest a fourteen year old.

"Listen kid, I understand what you feel, but that world doesn't exist anymore, and it isn't coming back. Your only bringing back painful memories," he said.

"I'm sorry that you feel so ashamed of what used to make people happy," Miles distastefully. Sonic could feel that Miles was downright disgusted that he was trying to be reasoned with by such a lowly person. "Your only a shell at this point giving in to the Darklord,"

"Because he has this planet in his clutches!" cried a woman from in the hall.

"Well then tell me why we're still here than. Tell me why Mephiles keeps us around. Why not just annihilate us?"

"No one knows how he thinks, he's too far above us," the police officer spoke again. "Your actions have doomed us you know!"

"You doomed yourselves when you gave up on everything. The Princess would be sick to her stomach if she saw any of this. She doesn't even know about this does she?" The officer was silent. "Thought so. If you guys put all this energy on something other than me you might be able to one day see the sun again,"

The officer ushered the crowd back. Miles looked at him unsurely. "We cannot change your mind, and make you give up your ideals?" Miles looked at him sternly, which was a good enough answer. "Then burn,"

The officer threw the torch on Miles's bed, which Miles still had his foot on. Miles quickly pulled his other foot off the bed to avoid the flames. He glared at the officer then shook his head. He then turned to scan the best place to go. He in honesty was not a fan of heights, and really wished he hadn't been so distracted. Miles however felt the flames trying to grasp him from behind so Miles hoping that Sonic would take over should he fall short. Miles pushed off the window ledge. Miles could hardly see, but he was able to make out some sort of object. He thought he could land on it, but then he saw it was a mere lamppost. Miles panicked instantly.

"_Keep your feet under you, don't flail and stay in control of your body_," Sonic instructed. Miles calmed himself enough to follow the instructions. Miles landed nimbly on the top of the lamppost. Miles was shocked at how easy it was to balance on it. "_Yeah, I got pretty good balance_,"

Miles smirked happy he didn't land flat on his face. However, his right foot slipped of the side since he wasn't paying his stance much attention. Miles then landed flat on his face. "Ugh, spoke too soon,"

Miles got to his feet then brushed off the dirt. He looked over at his apartment building to see the whole building was now on fire. At least it gave Miles a good enough light to see which was he needed to go. In order to leave Soleana he needed to go through Kingdom Valley. However, with the absence of the sun it was hard to tell if it was day or night. Miles wished to travel when he could best see, and at the moment visibility was weak.

"_Hey, I wonder where that monster went_," Sonic said.

Miles heard a loud slam behind him, and he turned around sharply to see the purple outlines out giant figure. Miles stared at the purple circle that attracted most of his attention. Miles noticed that one set of streaks began moving and then Miles was hit with a blunt force. The force sent him flying right through a wooden table. Miles was now lying in a pile of splinters in complete agony. Whatever struck him was pretty darn strong. Miles began to get up, but a giant hand latched onto his torso the throw him in another direction. Miles then went flying through a whole row of tables and then meeting the concrete ground. He thanked the Chaos Force Sonic was so sturdy since otherwise he would've probably broken a few bones, or lose consciousness.

Miles began getting up again then looked to see his attacker. Miles tried to make out its shape through the glowing purple outlines all its body. Miles deduced that it was a Black Coal. These are titanic creatures that stand at lest ten feet tall and strong enough to chuck boulders with one hand. It also had the uncanny ability to form boulders at will. The only advantage Miles had was speed, but it didn't mean much if he couldn't see where the attack was coming from. Miles watched the streaks carefully and followed their every movement. The streaks were coming in from the side so Miles assumed it was a punch so he ducked down to the ground. Upon hearing concrete being smashed to pieces and the fact he felt no pain Miles surmised that it was a miss. Miles decided to go for a counter attack.

Miles jumped up to slam his knee into the creatures purple sphere. Miles guessed that was the head. The creature shrugged off Miles, but Miles quickly recovered. Miles noticed his burning apartment, than smirked.

"Alright, tall dark, and spooky. Let's go to a bonfire," Miles leaped at the Black Coal then kicked off the giant's side. Miles felt the giant waver a bit, and fell back to perform a backhand spring. Miles heard and felt a loud crash in front of him, so he assumed the giant must have tried to crush him with one of his infamous boulders. Miles wasn't going to let that happen again, well at least by pure luck. Miles quickly made his way over to the burning apartment complex. Remnants of the mob were still there trying to find a body he supposed. When one person mentioned him the others quickly stirred back from mild mob to angry mob. Miles had to admit the transition was impressive.

However, he had no time for him. If it were his choice he would've left them to deal with the creature, however the creature came at him first. Miles hopped he knew what do.

"_Once you got some light on him try and get in a spin attack_," Sonic said. "_And throw out some more banter why don't you, I mean I know he can't respond, but you can still get feedback,"_

"I'll try and keep that in mind," Miles muttered as he sidestepped a pitchfork that was thrust towards him. Miles snatched the pitchfork out the person's hand. He threw the person down then threw the fork at the beast. It however bounced off, but he expected that, he was getting desperate.

"_Spin attack… Spin attack… Spin attack… Spin attack…_" Sonic chanted.

"Sonic, trying to concentrate," Miles said as he leaped to the side of the giant's fist as it came down, while at the same time kicking a very pointy pitchfork from skewering him. Miles wasn't sure if he was ready to use a spin attack so soon. He wasn't even sure if he could pull of a proper spin.

"_It's all in the legs, don't worry to much about the form_," Sonic said.

"Well, o-okay," Miles leaped toward the giant then pulled his body in tightly. He began to spin slowly then a bit faster until blue spikes began to form around him. However, he couldn't get into the spin of things quick enough since the giant sent him the opposite direction. Miles was plowed into the ground. "Okay, different tactic,"

Miles hopped to his feet as the monster approached. Now that the monster was in clear view the mob started to shrink back a bit some throwing in a few pitchfork jabs to help out. Miles reached for the emerald on his belt.

"Sonic, I'm gonna need some help,"

"_It's too early for me to take over again especially after that workout earlier_,"

"You saw that spin attack right?" Miles exclaimed.

"_Saw it? Dude I felt it, and I suppose we found what we need to work on first_,"

"I need something else here," Miles said edging backwards as the beast approach. Miles started to feel the flames reaching out to him again.

"_Ya got a couple of options Miles, ya just gotta experiment_,"

Miles looked at the fire behind him then smirked. "Alright big guy here I go!"

Miles charged the beast head on. The beast went to slam both fist on him, but Miles slid in between the giants legs. Miles scooped up a pitchfork then vaulted over the giants arm thankful for Sonic's reflexes and acrobatic prowls. However, Miles depended too much on Sonic's skill and not his own as he almost impaled himself falling on the ground after the move. Miles threw the fork into the flames then rolled, as the giant was about to stomp on him. The Dark Coal then summoned a giant boulder with one hand, and Miles took this chance. Miles rolled onto his feet then leaped up to strike the giant's wrist. Miles kicked off it's arm just as a the boulder came down landing on the giants head. The boulder spilled out all the vile contents it had inside.

Miles ran back to get the pitchfork yanked it out the fire. The metal part steaming hot which made Miles smile. Sonic was not exactly for the idea Miles had. Miles dashed toward the giant and actually began running along side it's body. Then stabbed the fork into it's head. Earning a cry of pain.

"_Spin Attack_!" Sonic exclaimed.

Without thinking Miles unleashed his best spin attack right through the beasts stomach leaving the mob shocked. The beast fell at his feet in an instant the darkness suddenly lifting from the area. It was so sudden that it shocked Miles the change in the atmosphere. This beast brought about one of the darkest times, literally. However, with the fall of the beast the darkness lightened significantly. Suddenly Miles's Chaos Emerald began glowing. Then suddenly the emerald shot out a powerful stream of light. Than it pierced into the sky suddenly the darkness that had been there for so long finally vanished. Miles was shocked to see the night sky above him.

"W-what...just happened?" Miles asked holding the emerald.

"_Oh, I remember this part, Tikal said the emeralds would be a beaken that would shine through the darkness...whatever that means. I guess this is what she meant casue the darkness is gone now_,"

"Cool," Miles said looking at the sky seeing the shining moon and stars.

Miles looked back at his audience with flames still in the background. The crowds espression showed a great collection of fear, and awe. Miles pitied them in a way, but he knew they wouldn't change. Any time soon anyway. He then looked into the sky as he leaped into the air leaving behind everyone and everything.


	4. The Journey Begins

_**The Wielders of Chaos part 4**_

"_**The Journey Begins,"**_

Miles screeched to halt in the giant fields of Soleana. Miles had just casted off the darkness from this land with his Chaos Emerald. Miles admits that the discovery was very shocking, but confusing. It was worsen when Sonic couldn't properly explain it. Miles decided that if he wanted to know the full details then had to find another Carrier as they are dubbed now. Sonic told him that he sensed an emerald somewhere on the outer parts of the land. Miles knew Kingdom Valley was the best way out of Soleana and to the main land. However, he also knew that this area is where monsters were heavily populated. He thanked the Chaos Force the night sky was so bright tonight, but even with that as a fact he felt it better if he travel by day.

"_Miles, you know we can't waste time_," Sonic said from the Chaos Emerald on Mile's belt. "_With my super speed you can breeze through Kingdom Valley in five minutes flat_,"

"Oh, you mean that super speed I can barley control," Miles said.

"_Well you need to practice at some point_,"

"I'd rather not in such a dangerous place. Kingdom Valley is a valley between mountains. I'm sure you would have no trouble dashing and jumping between mountains, but…"

"_But?_"

"I'm…not so good with heights," Miles admitted weakly gripping his backpack as he approached the old castle ruins.

"_You're afraid of heights?_"

"…yeah…"

"_Well, I guess this might be a problem_,"

"Why don't you just go through Kingdom Valley for me, that way I wont freak out and slip on a rock and fall to my death?" Miles asked.

"_No, can do. Because you gotta learn. Not just to learn how use my powers, but to face your fears_,"

"But-?"

"_You were scared of that mob right?_"

"Yeah a little, but-,"

"_You were scared of those monsters right?_"

"Of course who wouldn't be but-,"

"_And you were scared to jump out that window right?_"

"Terrified!"

"_My point is you did do all that, even though you were scared. Kingdom Valley will have to serve as your first real test_,"

"Everything else was just a warm-up huh?"

"_Yep_,"

Miles sighed. He definitely didn't want this job. However, he couldn't simply leave Sonic out in the middle of nowhere and hope he falls into more worthy hands. According to Sonic there isn't anyone else more worthy. Miles supposed he'd have to put up with it for a while. Miles began walking around the old castle that served as the entrance to Kingdom Valley. Miles looked at the vast expansion of land, and the darkness that covered it. Miles gulped even more fearful since the darkness was beginning to roll back in.

"So, we only freed Soleana from this darkness?" Miles asked surprised.

"_Ya didn't think it would be that easy didja_?"

"I was hoping,"

"_Rule number one Miles, it's never easy_,"

"Duly noted," Miles said looking around trying to find a path to start the journey. He supposed Sonic had a point. He would find a place to rest after he left. Plus, since he does hold a very powerful object that Mephiles wants his hands on it would be best to keep him from getting his hands on it. Miles looked and looked, but he could not seem to find an accessible path from the point he stood. Miles crossed his arms. "There doesn't seem to be a safe way of starting out,"

Miles looked at the mountains and the valley that lies between them. He supposed that it was about maybe more then a one thousand meters. He definitely needed a path. Miles sighed then suddenly he thought he heard something. He counted it off as Sonic's sensitive hearing going off at nothing and decided to ignore it. However, he started to recognize the rhythmic pattern of footsteps. Miles turned to see someone approaching the castle with a brown cloak. Miles gasped as he quickly hid in the shadows. He watched the figure glance around then move into the old castle. Miles supposed it was just another bum and decided to go about his way knowing now the person presented no real danger.

"_Let's follow em_," Sonic muttered.

"No," Miles said.

"_Come on aren't you curious_,"

"I'd rather try and deal with the problem at hand before venturing to other things," Miles said. That's the type of person Miles is. He focused on getting on task done at a time. He didn't like to move to another task until the one he started was complete.

"_Well think of it this way, this person seems to know where they're going. We don't have a clue what to do_,"

"Haven't you gone through Kingdom Valley before?"

"_I don't think so_," Sonic answered honestly.

"Well…how do we know this person is trustworthy?"

"_We don't, that's why we're investigating_,"

"Can't argue with that logic," Miles said sarcastically. Miles decided to just peek in on the person to satisfy Sonic's curiosity. Miles stuck his head in the doorway of the old castle tower. The castle was actually farther into Kingdom Valley, this part they were standing on was merely the doorway per say. The tower was gigantic with only one way in and one way out. Miles observed the cloaked figure from a distance. "What is he up to?" Miles asked himself growing curious.

The person then raised both their hands then a great light appear before them. It took Miles by surprise so much he gasped loud enough for the person to hear him. The person quickly turned around.

"Whose there?" the voice commanded.

"Your…a girl," Miles said sticking his head in.

"Yes, I am, and who are you?"

"It's polite to introduce yourself before asking for someone else's name," Miles said walking since hiding at this point was pointless.

"It's also polite to not spy on someone," she retorted.

"Touché," Miles said folding his arms. He's been doing that a lot lately. "My names Miles, and you?"

"I am," the figure removed their hood. "Elise,"

"Princess!" Miles exclaimed before performing a small bow. "Sorry, I had no idea, I'll just leave you,"

"No, please it's quite alright. I'm curious to know what you are doing out here young one," she said coming closer.

"Your only five years older then me princess," Miles muttered.

Elise smiled at him. "True, but being a citizen of Soleana you are also my responsibility. This place is dangerous,"

"I know…but…I uh…"

"What is-," Elis began but noticed the Chaos Emerald on Miles's belt. She gasped startling Miles and making him turn around with fist raised.

"What? What happened? Are there monsters?" Miles said eyes jetting from side to side.

"No, but you have one,"

"Have one of what?"

"A Chaos Emerald," she said gasping. "Where did you get that?"

"I found it, or it found me hard to say,"

"_How ya doing princess!_" Sonic exclaimed.

"GAH!" Princess Elise exclaimed reeling back. "Did-did it just talk?"

"_Yep it sure did_," Sonic said.

"Getting him to stop is the real trick," Miles said.

"Wait…that voice…it sounds so…familiar," Elise said calming down. She bent down a bit at Miles's level. "Who is that?"

"This is Sonic The Hedgehog," Miles said holding up the Chaos Emerald.

"_Hey princess, I'd bow and stuff, but I'm sure you can see why_," Sonic said.

"I do see," Elise then let a bright smile come to her face. "Finally, this darkness that has plagued the world will finally come to an end,"

"What do you mean?" Miles asked.

"May I borrow him for a moment?" Elise asked politely. Miles happily obliged handing her the emerald. "Wow, it's so bright, and so warm. Your very lucky Miles, to hold this object,"

"_That's what I've been trying to tell him_,"

"I don't want to be this big action hero I just want to find you a proper place," Miles said, but then Miles thought of something. "Hey Princess Elise why don you keep him? I'm sure you don't mind being the savior of the planet,"

"A kind offer, but I cannot," Princess Elise said.

"Why not?"

"Because, I am not right for it. This Chaos Emerald feels so foreign to me. If I were to try and tap into its powers I would probably do more harm then good,"

"_In other words, your still stuck with me_,"

"Great," Miles sighed then looked at the princess again. "What were you doing out here anyway princess? I have some form of protection, but your all alone you could get hurt,"

She smiled. "Thank you for your concern, but I needed to do this. I was drawn here for some reason, and now I know why,"

"Why?"

"You must gather the other lights in order to cast out the darkness,"

"Lights?"

"_Chaos Emeralds_,"

"Oh right, well we just need to find a path through Kingdom Valley, and we'll be out of your hair,"

"I can help you find the right path," Elise said.

"Really? Great, and preferable one that isn't that high in the air please,"

"_That's great and all, but what were you doing earlier with that light?_" Sonic asked.

"I was trying to see if I could locate the other lights,"

"What do you mean?" Elise stood up and walked over to where she was originally. Miles followed closely. She handed Miles the emerald then reached her hand out towards the wall. Then the wall light up with the same circle from before the bright light was blinding, but their eyes adjusted. "What is this?"

"It's a part of the castle of old. It's a mystical tracker of sorts, revealed only to those of the royal family. It can find mystical energy, and pin point them. With your emerald we may be able to pinpoint them exactly,"

"That's great, Sonic's not to good at this sensing stuff,"

"_Hey!_"

Miles handed the emerald to Elise who held it up to the glowing circle. The circle let out another glow then image passed through the circle. "The first emerald has already been found, by you of course. With you activating its powers the other emeralds have regained their power, which means they are now traceable again," Miles nods in understanding. "The second can be found…seems like…a circus tent,"

"Interesting," Miles noted.

"The third…oh my…I fear the third emerald will be a test of your skills so far in order for you to get it,"

"Why is that?" An image appeared on the screen of the circle. "And, who is that?"

"That is the Ixis wizard himself, Ixis Naugas,"

"_Oh, boy, that's gonna be a tricky one alright_,"

"The fourth will be even more difficult for it is in the hands of Mammoth Mogul, founder of the Ixis magics,"

"M-Mammoth M-M-Mogul, as is in THE Mammoth Mogul! As in-,"

"_Big immortal mammoth with crazy magical powers, and with a chaos emerald he has godlike qualities. Mr. 'I can say a whole speech in one breath', yep that's the one_,"

"Oh, god, I don't think I can take him!" Miles exclaimed.

"In your current status probably not, but fear not each trial you go through you shall gain another ally. The fifth luckily will probably be as easy as the second emerald," Miles sighed with relief. "The sixth emerald rest within the G.U.N. federation,"

"Well that should be easy! I would have pull there," Miles said.

"_Your parents were G.U.N. agents right?_"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"_I saw the picture_,"

"Oh," Miles said and he left it at that. He hoped Sonic would sense that's as far as the conversation would go, and luckily the hedgehog did. Elise decided to grab his attention again.

"Finally, the seventh Chaos Emerald….oh my…"

"What?" Miles asked as he looked at the figure.

"You will have to go against the nefarious Dr. Eggman in order to get this emerald,"

"_Ya don't say. Ol' egghead is still around. That should be a real test for you Miles_,"

"Dr. Eggman is one the world's most dangerous people I don't know who to be more terrified of him or Mammoth Mogul. He's even taken down Mammoth Mogul once or twice," Miles said.

"You must have faith Miles. Lastly, you will need to get to the controller, The Master Emerald," Elise said revealing the gem.

Miles looked at the circle curiously to see an image appear. Somebody was standing in front of the Master Emerald.

"Is that an Echidna?" Miles asked.

"_Not just any Echidna, that's Enerjak_,"

"Who?"

"_A living God basically, with crazy Chaos powers. He would practically be on par with Mogul_,"

"And it would seem he has the Master Emerald in his control as well," Elise added.

"Sonic, you had to bash these guys around back in the day, what do we do?" Miles asked looking in the emerald. Panic written all over his face.

"_The first thing is to stay calm, the second is to not worry about it. Right now we're focusing on getting through Kingdom Valley, which suddenly doesn't sound so scary compared to all these guys huh_?" Miles nods in agreement. "_You wont be going it alone alright pal, I got your back, and once we gather some friends they will too_,"

"You think?"

"_Trust me, I've got a PHD in being the hero_,"

Miles smiled a small smile. "Well, that's good to hear," Miles held the emerald in his hands, and noted Elise was indeed right. The emerald was very warm, and maybe he is lucky.

"Alright you two, I'll get you a path to Kingdom Valley, and it should be the quickest way through," Elise said.

"_Up for it Miles?_" Sonic asked.

Miles looked at the ground for a moment before giving a weak smile. "Yeah…let's do it," Miles hooked the emerald back to his belt then faced Elise. "I'm ready,"

Elise nods then turns toward the circle. Suddenly the circle displayed a path of some kind. "Jump inside and it will transport you,"

"Cool," Miles said. Miles pulled up his gloves a bit as he stepped back. "Thanks for everything Princess Elise, and I'll make sure I wont let you down," Elise smiled at him. Miles then charged toward the portal then leaped in. Miles then fell to the ground to slam on his feet. He noted that it was still very dark here and that he needed to watch his step. However, he did see a good path for him to follow.

"_Alright, let's start off with your basic movements. In order to master my skills you gotta stay calm at all times_,"

"O-Okay," Miles said nervously.

"_Now, start by going at a nice easy pace down the path_," Miles obliged charging off at about roughly 30 mph. He pumped his arms heavily trying to maintain his course and stay in control. "_One foot in front of the other. When you hit a certain speed try running like how I usually do_,"

"You…mean with your…arms back," Miles said panting slightly.

"_Yeah, that way you wont tire yourself out with all that arm pumping, and you can just focus on your footwork_," Miles took Sonic's advice to let his arms straighten out behind him then running a bit faster. Miles noticed he had a bit more control, and with how fast he was going he didn't really need to focus that hard on keeping his arms up. "_Good, I think you got it. Now, here comes a bend here. Make sure you get a firm grip as you turn the corner and put one foot in front the other_," Miles gulped slightly as he hit the corner. As he turned his body he felt his feet sliding. Miles quickly placed his hand on the ground to gain some extra traction. This allowed him to slid out the corner, and then charge off barley using losing speed. "_You…you just drifted Miles! It took me a while to learn that trick_!" Miles chuckled to himself and at his accomplishment. Miles looked ahead him to see the path was quickly coming to an end.

"Uh-oh better stop!" Miles said beginning the phase of slowing down.

"_No, speed up, you can jump it_,"

"What?" Miles questioned. He looked past the pit fall to see another path a fair distance, but not impossible. "What if I don't make it?"

"_Trust me you will, and if the off chance you don't leave it to me_," Miles didn't know how Sonic could possibly recover from a drop, and not being the curious type he didn't want to find out. Miles charged on ahead picking up speed. "_When you leap, leap out. Keep your body firm, I think the word for it is aerodynamic_," Miles took a quick breath then leaped through the air leaping over the gorge that suddenly looked bigger up close. Miles looked out instead of down in order to stay focused. Miles landed somewhat gracefully then continued on. Miles sighed with relief. "_Here comes another one_,"

"You're kidding me," Miles said looking farther ahead, and sure enough another gorge was waiting. "Well here goes," Miles repeated the same thing making the gorge again. Miles started to smirk feeling accomplished.

"_Don't be afraid to put a little style into it though_," Sonic said. Miles rolled his eyes as he began to approach another gorge this one considerably larger. Miles picked up speed to jump. Miles then leaped out holding his form then performing a quick somersault then slides against the ground on his feet.

"How was that?" Miles asked.

"_Good, now onto our next portion of training_," Suddenly Miles heard movement. He turned to see Dark Ferals climbing up onto the platform he was currently on. Miles eyes darts around to see he was now surrounded. "_Wow, perfect timing!_ _Okay Miles here's your next step, taking down enemies_,"

"I'm outnumbered, what do I do?" Miles asked trying to gain equal distance from all the creatures.

"_Okay, rely on your reflexes Miles. You're faster then them, so it's best to play the waiting game. When you see a chance strike hard and fast!_" Miles sighed then raised his fist to prepare for combat. The creatures all dived at him at the same time. Sonic instructed Miles to react not act. Miles looked to see, everything seemed a bit sluggish to him. The creatures seemed to be taking forever to pounce. Miles performed a somersault kick into the jaw of the one in front of him, and brought his feet down on top of the head of another Feral behind him. Miles then quickly leaped back avoid a claw swipe. Miles landed in the tree branch in the only tree of this part of the cliff. "_Good moves. Focus on moving around them, and getting the best chance to attack_,"

Miles nods then watches as the Feral leaped up at him. Miles leaned back dodging the pounce again. Miles wrapped his legs around the branch as he swung around. He reached up to grab the Feral's tail then swung forward to throw it to the ground. Miles came back down to the ground to see the monsters get back up. Obviously beating away at them wasn't enough. Miles noticed one came at him from the side taking him by surprise. As if by some strange reflex Miles actually leaned back so far his head almost touched the ground. Miles was surprised he actually pulled that dodge off. So surprised he fell on his back in trying to get back up.

"_Nice dodge. Now try a homing attack. All ya gotta do is focus on your opponent then fling yourself at em_," Sonic said. Miles rolled away from another claw swipe then swung his legs into the beast's face. Miles placed his feet underneath him to jump and then bring his body in tightly. He focused on the first then flung himself at it spinning with the energy quills surrounding his body. Miles bounced off and at the force of the attack the monsters was flung far off the cliff. Miles uncurled in midair mystified he pulled it off. "_Okay strike three more times and these enemies are history_,"

Miles did as told wiping out the rest of the enemies. Miles then turned to face the rest of his path. A brick wall laid before him. He walked over to it to give it an experimental push. It didn't feel sturdy enough to detour him. Miles took a few steps back then leaped forward with a flying kick smashing right through the wall.

"A part of me has always wanted to do that," Miles said. Miles continued down the path down a hill and then coming to a large cliff side. Miles stared up it noting it's large height. "Great, I guess I gotta climb it,"

"_Just jump_," Sonic said. Miles was about to say how impossible that was, but then again so was everything else that was happening. "_You have my skills and powers Miles, so jumping up this little hill shouldn't be a problem_,"

Miles sighed. "Okay," Miles crouched low to the ground trying to save up as much strength as he could. Miles then pushed off…extremely too hard as he went soaring over where his real target was. "AAAAHHH!"

The height was getting to Miles making him flail. Sonic decided that it was best he take over for a moment. The navy blue emerald began glowing replacing Miles's chocolate brown eyes for emerald green. Sonic curled up to fling his body toward another path that was much higher up. Sonic slammed on to a new path of the old castle grounds, however he hit it too hard. With it's fragile nature it began to fall apart.

"**Oh, no!**" Miles exclaimed.

"Relax, you'll be fine," Sonic said jumping from one piece of rubble to the other until he was on a sturdy path. Miles noted Sonic's calm, but alert perspective of how he moved. His muscles were relaxed enough that he wasn't stiff, and tightened enough so he could move around easily. "You gotta learn to stay calm under stressful situations Miles. Panicking doesn't help you when you're at least twenty meters in the air,"

"**Well, it's all a little hard Sonic**,"

"I understand, but I don't wanna take over for very long. That was your one freebie," Sonic said as the emerald began glowing again. Miles's eye color returning too normal. "_Alright let's go_,"

Miles nods then walks forward a few feet noting his heart wasn't racing too much. Thankful that Sonic actually hadn't taken over too long. Miles looked on ahead to see the lack of a path. "Now what?" Suddenly he heard a large noise behind him sounding like big monsters. Miles turned to see two giant Ferals. "Great, things just keep getting better and better…"

"_Let's read em a story so they can go to bed Miles!_"

"Right!" Miles exclaimed. Miles leaped up to unleash a homing attack. However, it wasn't fast enough as the Ferals dodged it. Miles however kept spinning until he slammed into a rock wall earning himself a headache. Miles slid down it in great pain. The Giant Ferals wouldn't give him a moment to lament. They pounced but Miles quickly got his bearings with Sonic's guidance and quickly shot forward past them. The beast both collided heads with each other. "Uh…I think I was supposed to make a joke of that right?"

"_It's too late the moments gone_," Sonic said groaning.

"Sorry," Miles said jumping back from a tail swing. "Just keeping mid battle banter is-," Miles cut himself off as his back foot touched the edge of the cliff. Miles instantly looked down to see the long, long, long drop down. Miles's heart fell. Again Sonic had to take over for Miles to bring him back to focus. Sonic flipped forward landing on the head of the first Giant feral. He then punched it directly in the eye making it howl out. Sonic flipped off to land against the side of the cliff clinging to it for a moment. This made the other feral leap at him. Sonic pushed off the wall then aimed an axe kick right on top of the ferals head make it collide with it's partner below.

"Gosh, you bozos sure are the clingy type," Sonic said landing harshly on his feet. Sonic curled up against the ground then began to harshly perform a spin dash. The Spin dash actually began to break apart the entire cliff. So the boom Sonic released as he shot himself forward was powerful enough to give it the final blow. Sonic then began running alongside the cliff wall then proceeding to leap from one cliff side to another. "Miles-,"

"**You don't have to say it Sonic, I know. I'm a screw up. I couldn't stay calm, and I almost got myself killed**,"

"Yeah, but-,"

"**If it weren't for you I'd be falling to me death like those guys**,"

"Maybe, but-,"

"**I also messed up your homing attack, that's your signature move and I messed it up! I feel so ashamed**,"

"Miles listen to me!" Sonic exclaimed. Miles grew silent. "I knew sooner or later I would have to step in no doubt about that. I'm glad you did make it this far without my help. You can't count yourself out before you even begin Miles. Your worried about not letting me down, and that shouldn't be your concern,"

"**Really**?"

"To be honest with you I want you enjoy these powers not fight to control them,"

"**Enjoy them! Sonic your powers are the key to saving this world, I shouldn't use them like a plaything!**" Sonic kicked off the side of a tower then flipped forward to land on another path. Sonic deemed it worthy enough for Miles's skill level. Sonic instantly switched with Miles. "Sonic-,"

"_Have fun, relax, and be free. Once you do that it'll all just come to you, trust me_,"

Miles noted the hedgehog said that a lot, but he always did. Miles looked ahead of him to see a straight path. "Have fun…" he muttered. Miles looked to the sky of darkness then looked out. He then charged forward in his Sonic style run. He decided to go as fast as his body could handle. Miles decided to take Sonic's advice to simply enjoy the moment. Miles pushed away his fears and doubts and simply ran. As he put each thing behind him, he started to feel lighter, and be able to run faster. Miles actually put up a genuine smile at how good he felt. He noticed the path was ending. He noticed though a few castle towers jetting out of the water beyond the fall. Miles dared not slow down lest his doubts and fears catch him. "Here goes!"

He decided to rely on Sonic should he fall, but he would soar. Miles leaped off into the air toward the first tower. Miles flipped forward to kick off that tower then the feeling of flight overtook him as he went through the air. Miles flipped forward again to place his feet against another tower then kicked off of it. He landed on another path that moved through the lower regions of the abandoned castle. Miles moved forward not allowing his doubts to catch up. Enemies showed up but he plowed right through them with blistering speed. Miles ran into a tower then ran out the other side. He noticed the path was out so he leaped up to slam into the window of the other tower.

Miles performed a somersault then crashed into the ground. Miles looked to the side to see steps. Miles quickly ran up them, but as he did they collapsed under his feet egging him to move faster. Miles finally made it to more solid ground to look around and see where his goal was. Miles looked and farther down the he could see a big door. He thought that this must be the exit of Kingdom Valley. Miles placed his feet under him as he leaped forward again this time leaping up onto a tower. He then began leaping from one tower rooftop to the next in order to reach his goal. Suddenly flying creatures appeared to get in his way.

"Dark Phoenixes," Miles muttered as he narrowly avoided one of the explosives they like to throw. "They'll go down in a second," Miles said. Miles grabbed a stem sticking out of the tower then twirled his body around to quickly kick back the explosive at the bird. It squealed as it was knocked out the sky, but another quickly took its place. Miles looked to see he had quite a ways to go before he reached his goal. "Maybe these guys can be my shortcut,"

"_Imagination, a powerful weapon aint it_," Miles leaped up to hogtie one of the birds then force it to collide into a tower, but he jumped off before it crashed. Miles ducked as another one dove at him. Miles then grabbed onto another as it passed him. He was able to gain some form of control to direct it toward the exit. The other birds were not keen on this, so much so they launched attacks at Miles to land the bird. Miles was in a tight spot. The longer he stayed on the bird the more likely he would get shot down. Miles looked for an escape route, but all he saw was a thick pole jetting from one of the towers toward his goal. "_Time for a grinding lesson!_"

"O-o-okay, but I'm no skater," Miles stuttered slightly. He dove off the bird just as it was shot down. Miles placed his feet underneath him, and tried with all his might to focus his eyes on the pole and nothing else. Miraculously, his feet hit it, and he began grinding it down to where the door laid. Miles went flying off the pole then quickly tried to gain control of himself as he approached the door. "How do I get this open?" Miles then heard a roar and then turned his head to see a giant boulder being hurled at him. "Yikes!" Miles yelled leaping out of the way. The boulder smashed the door open, but also revealed a powerful new enemy. Miles looked to see a giant monster that was half the size of the tower. "Okay, time to go,"

Miles dashed past the boulder just as the figure reached for him. Miles ran down the dark path. He noticed two sets of stairs, one going down and one going up. Miles decided to take the one going up. He ran as hard as he could, hoping he left the monster behind. Miles ran until he saw an opening. He ran through it to come to a wide-open field. Miles gaped as he looked at the way he came. The exit he came out of was similar to what he came into. He returned his gaze forward to see the dry and dying field. The field is grey, replacing the green grass, and the dirt dead feeling the moisture from it as Miles's walks against it. He felt it was as dry as concrete.

"Wow, this looked like it was a nice place," Miles muttered.

"_Yeah…we should probably keep moving toward where I sense that emerald at_,"

"Which is…?"

"_Try…going…straight_,"

"Very descriptive," Miles said charging. His body was near to exhaustion, but he knew he couldn't rest there. He had to at least reach civilization. Miles noticed the darkness was getting heavier, not so that he couldn't quite see where he was going, but enough to worry him. Miles looked up ahead to see lights, but not just any lights. Search lights waving around, probably broadcasting something. Miles picked up his pace enough to push himself fast enough to where he was quickly growing closer to the lights. Miles approached it, until he saw a cliff. He immediately stopped then looked down it to see a city the lights were waving from its outskirts. Miles also noticed many windmills around in the area. Miles also looked to see what looked like a giant tent of sorts.

"A circus…where are we?"

"_If I had to guess Apotos,_"

"Really!" Miles said. "Wow, I've always wanted to visit this place. I wonder if we might swing by Spagonia, or Empire City, and I'd definitely love to see the Mobian city Mobotrobolis…" Miles smirked. He was also a traveler by heart always wanted to see something new.

"_Well we might just be traveling all over the world, so who knows? Only one way to find out!_"

"Right," Miles said nodding then he leaped down from the cliff. "Onward to adventure!"

* * *

_**A/N: **_Okay everyone the adventure is getting under way! Now I still strongly encourage people to join in, cause we will be having a blast. Make up and OC on the spot if you have to, that is if you wanna join. Can't think of a character. Then I'll make one for ya, but I'll put your name on it. Sounds like a cool deal to me.

Please review.


	5. The Opening Act

_**The Wielders of Chaos part 5**_

"_**A Brand New Act,"**_

Miles kept up his strong pace for as long as his body would allow him. He began approaching Apotos with every step he made. However, he was greatly exhausted and needed some serious rest. He told himself that as soon as he made it into town that he would find a place to rest. Miles dashed past windmills on the outskirts of the land. Sonic told Miles that he had visited this city before and was familiar with the layout. Sonic told him that the more city like portion of the city was farther up ahead. Miles dashed down a dirt path kicking up a cloud a smoke as he ran. Miles drifted the corner then kept going strong. Miles's steps began to waver slightly as he kept up this pace. His body screaming for him to stop, but he couldn't…not yet anyway.

There was a woman working at the front desk of a hotel. She was wearing her hotel uniform while standing there looking very somberly around. She remembered when this hotel used to be the hotspot for all tourists to stay at for their stay in the beautiful city of Apotos. She supposed it was by some miracle that Apotos has still retained most of it's glory considering what's been going on. Even with this great darkness covering everything, it still was one of the world's most beautiful cities. She supposed she could put that on their 'protectors' for lack of a better word. This woman is in her twenties, pretty young so she still is full of life and a smidge of hope. She was about to maybe take off early for the rest of the day seeing as nothing else was happening.

So, it's safe to say she was quite startled to see someone walk through the front door. She was so shell shocked she almost forgot about her job. "H-Hello sir, welcome to the-oh my gosh!" She exclaimed when the boy collapsed right at the front desk.

The woman thought she had seen it all when this darkness took over the planet, but she guessed that she could be in her sixties and still see new things. She bit her lip a bit considering what to do. Here someone who she doesn't know just come walking in and collapses before they could check in. Granted, he looked to be barley a teenager, so it's not like he was a grown person doing this. He looked a bit ragged, like he may've been through a lot getting here. She felt her morals kick saying this boy needed help, and that should be enough to help him. She was glad though he only had the backpack on his back instead of a lot of luggage.

* * *

Miles's eyes fluttered open after reliving another of his past memories through his dreams. He supposed it was the only time he could actually see them…

"_Hey Miles, how ya feel_?" came Sonic's voice suddenly. Miles looked over to see the Emerald lying on the nightstand.

It caught Miles totally off guard for at first he wondered who said that, but then his previous activities all caught back up with him. He sighed. "I'm fine Sonic, just really sore," For good reason too. Could you imagine running at such speeds, flying through the air, and fighting all those monsters. He was not breaded for such type activities, so it's to be expected that he would need a bit more recovery time. Miles noticed that his gloves were removed, as was most of his clothing. Miles instantly blushed when he realized how little he was covered. He then immediately wondered who did this. "Sonic, why am I only in my boxers?"

"_This lady who works for the hotel helped you to this room. That was pretty nice of her, and she took your clothes to wash them. They should be on the bed next to you_," Sonic explained. Miles looked over, and sure enough there his clothes were, clean and dry.

"You mean…someone…actually willing helped me…"

"_Ya know Miles, the world isn't just made of people who do things to get ahead of others. The world does have good people, willing to help for no reward_,"

"You mean the few handful of people,"

"_Come on Miles,_"

"I'm going to shower real quick," Miles said ending the conversation. Miles stood then limped away and into the bathroom. Miles leaned on the doorframe for a moment trying to gain his wits. He was still half asleep and still a bit tuckered out. Miles shook his head then went into the bathroom. Sonic sat there waiting for him. Sonic could sense a Chaos Emerald was really close by, at least he thinks. Sonic was used to traveling by himself going from one place to another, but suddenly he has this need to want to be with as many people as possible. He wants to find this new companion and continue on. The only thing that Sonic wondered about is what would be next. If they were to succeed what would he do? What could anyone do? Without bodies, they may as well be Christmas ornaments. Sonic heard the stopping of the shower, and in moments Miles emerged refreshed a bit. "A good shower usually helps," Miles quickly began getting dressed and strapping on the Chaos Emerald. Miles picked up his backpack then headed to the door. "Now we have to find the Chaos Emerald that's supposed to be here,"

"_Right, but don't forget to eat something_,"

"Okay, Sonic," Miles said. Miles glanced at the door to see a note. Miles hummed in confusion then took it off the door.

"_Well, what's it say_?"

"It says to 'come down, breakfast will be served for our honored guest' signed, Rosie…"

"_Rosie…_" Sonic muttered the name sounding similar to another friend of his.

"Yeah, guessed that's who helped me," Miles said. He supposed he might as well since he is starving. Miles took the key card attached to the back of the note then exited the room pocketing the card. Miles made his way downstairs using an elevator. As he went down he was able to see the lobby from the see through glass of the elevator. He saw a very luscious area, an indoor pool on one side the room, wide open space, a plasma TV at almost every corner, and a bar. Miles looked to see a corridor he supposed might have been the breakfast area. "Nice place,"

Miles exited the elevator then walked over to the corridor he assumed to be the entrance to the breakfast area. Miles noticed a note on the door that said "warmer". Miles smirked then kept moving down the hall. As soon as he entered the hall he began to smell food, the thought of the great lubricating substance just made his mouth water. His nose now being his guide, he moved quickly, but not at Sonic speed thankfully. Miles also noticed notes here and there saying warmer, and then when the smell was really strong he saw a note on a door, that said "Red hot!". Miles smirked as he opened the door to be greeted with such a great smell.

He looked around the dining hall to see he was the only one there. Miles supposed that he wouldn't have to wait long for his food then it that's the case. He walked over to any table then sat down. Soon a waiter came up to him.

"What would you like to have sir?"

"Pancakes, bacon, eggs scrambled, toast, hash brown, a glass of milk, and a small mug of coffee," Miles said quickly. The waiter wrote it down with a smirk.

"Will that be all sir, or would you like the other half of the menu?"

"Keep up with the jokes and you can forget about your tip pal," Miles said. The waiter chuckled then left. Miles then allowed himself to relax. Sonic told him a woman was the one who helped him, so he supposed that he would see her soon. Miles noted only five minutes went by until his food was brought out to him, this time by a waitress.

"Here you are sir," She said smiling.

"Wow, this looks awesome!" Miles exclaimed. He quickly got his silver ware ready for battle. "Thanks so much!" Miles poured his syrup on the pancakes, and his bacon said a quick prayer then delved into his food.

The woman was a little put off by this but managed to shrug it off. "My, quite an appetite," Miles's mouth was too full to answer but he simply nodded. Miles did take in the woman's appearance. She has pink highlights in her hair mixed with black, her soft brown eyes, with smooth bright tan colored skin, and her waitress uniform on. "Would you mind if I asked what your name was?" she asked taking a seat next to him.

Miles gulped down bunch of food then quickly washed it away with some milk. "…Miles," he gasped out.

"Nice to meet you Miles, my name is Rosie,"

"Ah…the one who left the notes?"

"Yep, that was me," she said smiling.

"Thanks, and sorry I just collapsed like that in front of you,"

"I'll admit you scarred me, but it was quite the highlight of my day. I see you're clothes aren't the only things clean," she said smiling.

"Oh, so that was you who-uh," Miles blushed slightly looking away.

"Oh, don't be so bashful, I have a little brother that's ten. You've seen one pair of super hero jammies, you've seen em all,"

Miles nearly spit out his milk when he heard that. He quickly composed himself though, "…Thanks, but let's keep that one between us," Miles said

"Sure, so Miles, how'd you sleep?"

"Great thanks, and don't worry I should be able to cover this," Miles said. Rosie shook her head.

"Breakfast is on me, and if you want you can pay for the room, but you don't have to if you don't have it,"

"Why the courtesy?" Miles asked curious.

"Well, like I said I have a brother that's ten years old, so when I saw you I kinda saw him. You're what 12?"

"I'm 14!"

She chuckled, "Right, but…" She looked sadly around the place. "This place has been so quiet and empty that to see someone in here instantly raised everyone's spirit. You don't have to tell me anything, and you don't have to tell me what happened. I helped you cause I felt I should, and it was the right thing to do," Miles stared at her open eyed. "I know you don't find many people today with this type mentality, but…maybe one day all this darkness will go away,"

Miles stared at the woman in front of him. He thought that no human being today had decency anymore, and chivalry has been dead long before this darkness came. Miles could sense Sonic poking out his chest proudly, figuratively speaking of course. Miles looked away from her.

"I…" Suddenly Miles heard a bunch of ruckus coming down the hallway. Miles's head shot to the side. He heard the ruckus grow louder as the noise approached. "What's that?"

"Oh no, I forgot about them!" Rosie exclaimed jumping.

"Them?" Miles questioned. Then six figures burst from the door almost throwing it off it's hinges. Miles's eyes widened at the figures knowing immediately they were mobians. Miles noted that they also looked to want trouble. The head of the pack was a brown dog wearing a grey jump suit with combat boots, then a white wolf who had a blue sleeveless shirt blue pants and blue boots, then there's a frog with what looks like a flight helmet a scarf a goofy look on his face and kakii colored pants and boots, the sky blue hawk only has red boots with red gloves with sharp talons on the end of them and wings underneath his arms, the lynx only has blue gloves and shoes with a lightning bolt on both the gloves and footwear, and finally a gorilla with a hard hat camouflage pants with combat boots.

"Hey, there she is!" exclaimed said the lynx of the group.

"Rosie who are these guys?" Miles said standing up in front of her

The six immediately noticed him. "Awe how cute, this dump actually got a guest, and it's little boy," said the white wolf.

"Cutie-littlie-small-funny-hahahah!" cried the frog spouting seemingly nonsense.

"Well the kid asked who we were so I think it's best to tell him," said the dog, who seemed the most composed of the group. "We are The Destructix!"

"Destructix…wait…I've heard of you guys you're that mercenary group that stirs up trouble,"

"I see our old rep haunts us to this day," said the bird, although he said it dripping with sarcasm.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves," the dog began again. "I am Sleauth," He gestured to the hawk. "This is Predator Hawk," He points to the lynx. "Lightning," he points next to the frog. "Flying Frog," he points to the wolf. "Drago," then he points to the ape. "And last but not least Sgt. Simian,"

Miles didn't trust these guys in the slightest, and was sensing Sonic didn't either. Miles decided to pull his jacket in a bit to better hide his emerald. "What do you want?" Miles asked.

"Whew, kids got spunk, be a real shame if something cut that short of life of yours even shorter…" said Predator Hawk showing his sharp claws.

"Please," Rosie said moving herself in front of Miles. "Don't hurt him, I'll get you your order right away,"

"Seems like you already served most of it to that brat there!" yelled Drago pointing at Miles.

"Awe, if ya want it that bad then why don't you stick around for a while. It'll come back then you can eat that," Miles said smirking.

Drago growled stepping forward and Miles followed suit. However, Rosie intervened with them. "Please, don't, I…I don't want anyone hurt. I'll get you your breakfast,"

"Too late toots, we had a pretty sweet deal for you and you go and ruin. See where being generous gets you," Lightning said.

"No, wait, the food is in the kitchen I can go get it I swear!" Rosie exclaimed pointing towards the door.

"I don't see why we have to eat that crud now. Besides we're punctual, so we expect the same respect too," said Sleuth as he turned. "Trash the place a little,"

The Destructix moved in the show off their name. They flipped tables and threw them across the room. They destroyed the parts of the wall began tearing up the dining room. Predator Hawk shredded the clothes on the tables and tore up the ceiling. Flying Frog leaped from one table to the next smashing each on he landed on to pieces. The rest simply performed simple mayhem throwing heavy objects across the room. Rosie screamed in utter terror of seeing the place ransacked. Miles was surprised, but suddenly this burning feeling lit up in his heart.

"Hey, cut that out!" Miles exclaimed leaping into action.

Miles dashed forward to tackle Flying Frog to the ground, however the frog was quicker then Miles expected and in midair reversed it to make Miles go crashing to the floor. Miles pushed off the frog, and then rolled away from fast dive from Predator Hawk. Miles got to his feet then charged toward Sgt. Simian who had a podium over his head. He threw it at Miles long ways. Miles slid on his knees as he leaned back to allow the podium to fly over him. Predator Hawk and Flying Frog barley were able to avoid it. Miles quickly got his feet back under him to perform a roll to avoid the gorilla's hammer punch that broke through the floor. Miles leaped up at him strike with an uppercut, but the gorilla leaned away then responded with a powerful backhand strike. Drago then punched Miles down, and then to finish the job Predator Hawk grabbed his leg to swoop down then slam him into a table. The table crumbled under the force and caved in. Miles growled in irritation and moved to combat further.

"Wait!" Rosie said standing up in front of Miles with her arms up. The Destructix momentarily halted. "Please, don't hurt him, I'll do whatever you want just leave him alone," Rosie said tears beginning to stream down her face. Miles gasped when he noticed that.

"Whatever we want huh?" Drago smirked.

"Yes," she said.

They all looked at each for a moment, and then smirked. "…Desturctix, let's go, no point in beating up some random punk. We'll be sure to get at him later though," said Sleuth.

"Watch your back kiddo," Drago said being the last to leave. Miles growled at them, and he could tell Sonic shared his sentiments exactly. Miles moved to stand, but Rosie quickly hovered over him trying to make him settle down. She got Miles into a chair, but Miles still wanted to fight, despite his obvious soreness.

"Please…don't…I couldn't stand to see you…" Rosie sniffled a little.

"But…Rosie…they were wrecking everything," Miles said defiantly. "Your too nice to deserve something like that from those jerks!"

"No on has any choice," Rosie said sadly.

"What do you mean, and what did they mean when they talked about some deal?"

Rosie looked down sadly. "There's a reason that Apotos still mostly retains it's beauty," Miles looked at her curiously. "Many months earlier, Apotos was almost constantly under attack from the Dark creatures. Normally they would be tamed and would not attack, but suddenly they began to heavily attack us. Apotos was in near panic at the moment of people who kept getting hurt in the attacks. It was so unsafe…until they came. During an attack they had come, The Destructix, led by Kodos,"

"Kodos?" Miles questioned.

"Yes, he was not with them today…thankfully…otherwise this may've been much worse," Miles glanced around the room. He wasn't sure how worse it could get. "They protected us and we held them as heroes…until they started making demands onto us. Forcing us to feed them, entertain them, and we had to give the circus so much money just to stay in town so they would find some amusement. However, they grow restless with being the rulers of this place. We fear, that if they leave, our town would be decimated,"

Miles wiped the corner of his mouth. He had to admit they were pretty good. "They aren't pushovers, but that doesn't make them any less cowardice,"

"They're too strong Miles, please leave us be. This is our problem we must solve. I…don't want…anyone else hurt because of me!" Rosie gasped clasping Miles's hand. Miles looked at her shocked.

"What did they do to your Rosie?"

"…They…I spoke against them one time. I called them cowards with nothing but ill intent in their hearts. I even tried to rally a mob against them…I walk home to visit my parents…and the house is completely caved in. I find my brother barley alive on the front lawn. My parents…my parents…" tears began to spill from Rosie's eyes. Miles gasped then glared in the direction the Destructix left. "Please, I don't want anyone else hurt…please!" she begged.

Miles looked at her sadly. "I…promise," Miles's grip grew strong. "I'm gonna help you with this,"

"Miles please-,"

"I wont let you live like this, and I can do something about it," Miles stood from his seat. "First, I'm gonna help you clean this place up, then I'm gonna need you to point me in the direction of that circus,"

* * *

Miles hurried down the street dashing past people who seemed shocked of his pace and his hurry. "Sonic, those guys were tougher then I thought they'd be,"

"_Yeah, you're not quite used to fighting toe to toe yet_,"

"I can take down a pack of Dark Beast, but I can't take out six guys!" Miles said frustrated at his failure.

"_You'll get another shot Miles, trust me. The Destructix just put you on their hit list, and they aren't the easiest to ignore_,"

"You've dealt with them before?"

"Oh yeah, those chumps. I used to beat the brakes off them all the time. They were jokes!"

"Not helping my self-esteem Sonic…those guys just beat me bad," Miles said sadly. "I thought I could do something,"

"_It was six on one Miles, you're not used to fighting guys like those yet, and they have a bit more fighting experience then you do_,"

"But, I have the powers of the hero of the planet, and one of the most powerful beings on the planet,"

"_Not his skills though, you'll learn Miles, and you'll be ready for the next round_,"

"I just can't wait to pound those guys into the ground," Miles growled. Miles dashed past and through Apotos then began to come up on the giant circus tent. "Sense anything?"

"_Yeah, wherever that emerald is, I bet it's under the big top_,"

Miles noticed that the afternoon showing that Rosie told him about was about to begin. Miles quickly approached the front entrance. He noticed that many people gathered for the circus and seemed pretty ecstatic to see it. Something about a magic act from what little Miles heard. He supposed he might as well enjoy the show then figure out where that Chaos Emerald, especially with Sonic's constant begging to see the show. Miles reached for his wallet to pay for his ticket. He took it then entered the big tent walking on a big wide red carpet. He felt like movie star. As he continued he looked around to see there was only one path for the crowd to follow, but if one looked hard enough you could see other paths through the tent. Miles was a bit surprised on the infrastructure of such a simple tent. Miles then followed the crowd until they made it to the stands.

Miles sat in a seat higher up so that way no one would notice his Chaos Emerald's glow with the dim lighting in the stands. Miles waited only a few moments for the spotlights to focus on the center ring. A man stepped out to reveal himself.

"Ladies, Gentlemen, and all Mobians, welcome The Theactrical Circus, home of the Mirage Butterfly!" he exclaimed successfully firing up the crowd. Miles sat and watched as act after act went on. From clowns, lion tamers, to motor shows, and massive sword fights and fire spitting this circus had it all. He had to admit this was indeed one heck of a show. Finally, the Ringmaster revealed himself again. "Ladies, Gentlemen, and all Mobians alike, I am please to showcase our very own, Mirage Butterfly!"

The crowd instantly went insane. Miles felt himself lean in a bit to see a figure walking up to the center ring. She wasn't accompanied by anyone, and she didn't have any props. Miles was confused on what this person was going to do. Miles looked harder to notice that the person was in fact a mobian. If he was correct he would say a long eared Jerboa. The Mobian smiled at the crowd then waved enthuastically.

"Hey everyone, thanks for coming out to see the show," the mobian spoke revealing to Miles that it was a she. "Now here goes,"

Miles noticed that her eyes had a light blue color around them, and then suddenly he realized they went in the circus anymore. They were outside somewhere. The crowd gasped, and then suddenly explosions of light began to go off in the sky. The crowd awed at the performance. Then there was a great explosion of light that consumed the crowd. Then it was as if everyone was soaring through space, each person with a space fighter of their own. Everyone was surprised, but somewhat enjoyed it being able to fly the plane. Suddenly, they were all transported again, and it was as if they were staring at the crystal clear blue sky with the shining sun.

The only one out of the loop was Miles. He looked around at everyone noticing their blank gazes. Miles waved his hands in front of few of them and got no response. Miles raised an eyebrow at this.

"What's this Mirage Butterfly doing to them?" Miles wondered, and he also wondered why he wasn't affected.

"_The power of Chaos Emerald must be protecting you somehow from seeing this. I'm guessing there's a reason they call her Mirage Butterfly_," Sonic said.

Miles glanced around for a moment then used his speed to quickly get down to the lower levels. Miles got there in a second then looked at this Mirage Butterfly closely, then he gasped. Around her neck is a green Emerald, but it was odd because it gave off a faint light.

"She has a Chaos Emerald around her neck!" Miles exclaimed.

"_We'd better go down and get it while she's distracted_," Sonic suggested.

"No, I'm sure we can reason with her, we just after to get to her after the show," Miles said.

* * *

The Mirage Butterfly entered her trailer that was behind the tent. She's usually the first to leave the tent since she's the last act she the last to get back into her normal clothes. She sighed as she entered the room closing the door behind her. She glanced around then went to her wardrobe then quickly changed out her stage clothes into more regular attire. She wore green cargo pants with lost of pockets, a black ¾ shirt with a silver outline of a butterfly on the back splashed with colors like purple, blue and red, she wears sneakers with the pants covering the tops. Her sneakers are a deep grey with purple designs on the side, and finally she wears red fingerless gloves that cover a birthmark on her right hand. She sighed again then relaxed on her bed.

She stood about 2'10, but the longest part of her body would be her tail, which is about 2/3's of her body. Her main fur color is a light earthy brownish color while her stomach and muzzle are light gray color. She has huge ears that have an orangish pink coloring on the inside and the same color as her main fur. Her eyes are normally a golden color.

"_Great show Andrea, you really had them eating out the palm of your hand!_" exclaimed a voice from the emerald. Andrea smiled. She had grown used to the voice for a while now, considering it totally freaked her out at first. The emerald was given to her from a friend a long time ago, but she never would've guess that it was one of the seven Chaos Emeralds. She also would've never guess it contained the spirit and powers of one of the worlds heroes, or to be more specific heroine.

"Thanks Amy,"

"_But, I still have that strange feeling, like something is off_,"

"Really, like what?" suddenly there was a knock at her door, which made her jump slightly. "Go away!" she called.

"This is important, I need to talk to you," called the voice.

Andrea didn't recognize it. "Who are you?" she said challengingly gripping her emerald.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I need to talk to you about your emerald," called back the voice. That did it as she moved to open the door. When it opened she saw a boy who stood over her in height. "Thanks for-," She cut him off after she summoned a hammer made of pure Chaos energy. "Yikes!" Miles exclaimed flipping up onto the top of the trailer narrowly avoiding the hammer. "What's with you!"

"Yeah, I wasn't born yesterday. I know that some guys would kill to have this emerald, and now that it's powers are back I was warned their would people after them again," she said.

"How do you know I'm after it, and where did you get that?" Miles asked pointing at the hammer.

"I ordered it off the internet," she said performing a somersault in order to get on top the trailer then aim for Miles's head which he jerked back just avoiding it again. "As for how I know, well I got my sources,"

"You need to stop swinging and start listening!" Miles exclaimed jumping back avoiding another swing.

"I hear what you have to say and I'm taking it under consideration," she said as she slammed her hammer into Miles side successfully knocking him off the trailer. Miles hit the ground growling in pain at the attack. Miles looked up to see her coming down on him again. Miles grabbed her hammer's handle then flipped her judo style, however she nimbly gained control of herself in midair then got her feet back underneath her.

"Clearly, your not taking this seriously," Miles said rolling away from a hammer drop.

"This deep into the fight, and your just now figuring that out," she said.

"Well-," Miles was cut off by the glow of his emerald on his hip. Miles's eyes changed into an emerald green color. "Amy, get your Carrier under control please!" Sonic exclaimed using Miles's body to flip out of the way of a horizontal swing.

"How do you-," Andrea was also cut off by the glow of her emerald. Suddenly, her eyes also became green. "Sonic…is that…you?" Amy questioned.

"Yeah, of course, I'm sure you recognized that fancy footwork," Sonic said smiling.

"Oh Sonic!" Amy yelled grabbing Sonic in a tight hug. It looked a little odd though with Amy latching onto Sonic's torso. "I've missed you so much!"

"Good to see you too Amy," Sonic smiled.

"_**Whew, thanks Sonic, that hammer almost killed me**_," Miles said sighing with relief.

"_**What the, hey Amy, why are you in control of my body, and what's going on here?**_"

"We'll explain, by the way little lady the names Sonic, and this body I'm using is my friend's. His name is Miles,"

"Oh, nice to meet Sonic's carrier. My name is Amy Rose, is this is my carrier's body. Andrea the Jerboa,"

"_**Nice to meet you now that you're not swinging at me**_," Miles said.

"_**Don't be such a girl**_," Andrea responded.

"_**Hey!**_"

"Okay you two, that's enough fighting for one day. Still we should really talk," Sonic said.

"Right, come on into the dressing room before we gain unneeded attention," Amy said pulling Sonic in with Andrea's tail. She closed the door of the trailer behind them.

However, a bird flying through the air noticed them. Predator Hawk smirked, "Wait'll the boss get's a load of this,"

* * *

_**A/N: **_Well there we go part 5 and it's a doozy. It seems like everyone wants a piece of Miles. Anyway if some of you don't know, I'm also bringing in characters from the Sonic The Hedgehog Archie Comics. That way this gives the story a much broader list of characters, and a much broader board. I hoped you enjoyed. So Mixie, what'd ya think?


	6. The Curtain Call

_**The Wielders Of Chaos part 6**_

"_**A Curtain Call,"**_

"_**All I'm saying is, I wasn't really trying that whole time. You got lucky**_," Miles said as if he said that for the tenth time.

"_**And all I'm saying is I kicked your can no questions about it**_," Andrea responded.

"Gosh, I thought taking over their bodies would end the fighting, but I think we made it worse," Sonic said.

"Don't worry about them, I'm sure they'll warm up to each other eventually. Because at this point they have to otherwise this battle wont last long," Amy said sighing.

"_**Amy, are you still going on about this great battle that I've been 'chosen' for**_," Andrea said.

"Yes, come on girl you've got skill and potential. We could really do some good. Plus, now that Sonic is with us, we're definitely gonna be 'A' okay!"

"_**This whole saving the world thing is still in the debating stage guys**_," Miles said.

"_**That goes ditto for me**_," Andrea agreed.

"Wow, you got a carrier that doesn't wanna save the world too?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, she's been through a lot though. I know we're not perfect, but we have to try to do something. At least let's do getting rid of those Destrutix jerks," Amy growled.

"You ran into them too?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, when you run into them?"

"Just today actually, you?"

"Andrea had been caught in corner by them, so I had to come out and toss them around a bit,"

"Of course you couldn't take them all on forever,"

"Obviously, so I had to turn tail when they started getting one too many lucky shots,"

"Yeah, I feel ya,"

"I bet you gave them a good pounding like old times though,"

"Well…"

"_**I tried to take them on myself, and got it handed to me**_," Miles spoke up dejectedly.

"Well your still starting out, plus the Destructix have a bit more fighting experience," Amy said.

"_**Yeah, plus I tried to take them on myself and they almost killed me. I'm happy Amy stepped in when she did, otherwise…**_"

"Oh, you guys shouldn't beat yourselves up so much!" Amy exclaimed cheerfully. "I mean separately we couldn't take them down, but together we can totally pound those jerks,"

"_**What about Kodos**_?"

"Well…I think it's best you guys leave him to Sonic and I,"

"_**Is this Kodos guy that strong?**_" Miles asked.

"_**Stupid, but strong as crap. He's dangerous that much is for sure**_," Andrea said glumly.

"_**He's a mobian right?**_"

"_**Yeah, a saber tooth tiger last I checked**_,"

"_**Great…hey guys you think we can have our bodies back now?**_" Miles asked.

"Oh right sure," Sonic said as the emerald began glowing and Miles's eyes returned to normal the same happened with Andrea. They both sighed then looked at each other.

"You are good though," Miles admitted.

"You need to work on your banter," Andrea said bluntly. "But, the fighting part is something you got down pretty well,"

"I see you're quite the acrobat,"

"Yes, I am, thank you. I see you're…a former cheerleader?"

"Your not funny,"

"I thought it was hilarious,"

"_Awe, great you're bonding!_" Amy exclaimed happily.

"Amy, maybe you can answer the questions that Sonic couldn't," Miles began. Miles looked at the emerald and assumed he had Amy's attention. "What's with this weird energy that we feel when we use you guys's powers?"

"_Oh, Sonic wasn't paying attention at this part. Well, from what I remember, the chaos energy is supposed to serve as a substitute_,"

"A substitute?"

"_Yeah, from what Tikal told us. It's supposed to perform and behave like our old abilities, but with a little more kick since it's made of pure chaos energy. Plus, some of our Carriers apparently have powers of their own. What are yours_?"

"I don't have any powers, or none that I know of,"

"Oh, you've got undiscovered abilities huh. That's cool and all, but that really doesn't change anything," Miles looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Let me spell it out for you. Sonic and Amy may be all buddy-buddy, but we're not,"

"I get that,"

"Then I'm sure you know the way out,"

"But I also know that Sonic and Amy are connected. So as long as you keep that emerald then so are we. We don't have to be friends, to be honest I'm not a fan of a lot of you mobians,"

"Excuse me!" Andrea barked.

"Yeah I said it. Most of you mobians feel you're so much better then…what do you call us, oh yeah overlanders. I just find it so ironic that the greatest of all of you doesn't even have a hint of that cockiness,"

"So you think all Mobians are alike,"

"So far all the ones I've met have been huge headaches and a big pain in the-,"

"_Miles_," Sonic said cutting him off.

"Listen, I don't have to trust you. You can do whatever you want, but you can't stay here. I don't have any interest in a team up of any kind with you," Andrea said.

"You think you're so much better then me you gerbil?" Miles asked glaring at her.

"First, don't you ever call me that! Second, I don't think, I know. My acrobatics mixed in with Amy's hammer swinging skills. We're an unbeatable team,"

"Except when you fight people with real skill, like the Destructix," This quickly deflated Andrea. "Listen, I know I can't do this myself, and you know you can't either. I suggest maybe just a quick team up to take down the Destructix. I'm not asking on the behalf of my pride, I'm asking for the people of Apotos,"

Andrea was taken back by the request then turned her head. "Why, you could just run right through this town and not look back. You do have the powers of Sonic the hedgehog. You don't even have to stay here. If I were you I'd give up on me and go find another carrier,"

"I don't trust the Destructix to stay here much longer, and plus they hurt a friend of mine,"

"A friend?"

"Yeah, she's really nice, and didn't deserve anything that this crazy new life has given her. At least let me do that for her,"

"_Andrea…I think you should at least consider_," Amy suggested.

"…I wanna take down the Destructix too. They've been doing this to these people for far too long, and I hate it. I've tried to put them in check a couple of times, but…it never ends well. I think the only reason their still here is because I have a Chaos Emerald,"

"_There is a chance they saw ours too Miles_," Sonic admitted.

"Then we're in this together weather you wanna be or not," Miles spoke firmly.

"Okay, okay, fine. I guess you really take all this hero stuff seriously,"

"Uh…not…really," Miles said glancing to the side.

"However, there are some things we gotta cover first," Andrea said stepping forward. "Number one, never in your life will you EVER call me Gerbil. Number two, never grab my tail, and number three, I'm going to teach you some acrobatics,"

"Wait, what was that last one?" Miles asked not sure if he heard her right.

"That's right. I noticed you've got potential, but you need some serious cleaning up,"

"What do you mean?"

"_You lack the finesse_," Sonic said.

"Yeah, that counts for something, and effectiveness," Andrea said.

"Effectiveness?"

"Movement is one thing, but movement without a cause is pointless. You can move at the speed of sound, practically nothing should be able to touch you, if you're paying attention,"

"Yes, sensei Andrea," Miles said bowing.

"Okay Miles, we'll team up, but we gotta know each other's strengths,"

"Okay, I know some intermediate forms of martial arts, but I still haven't pushed into the more advanced set,"

"I bet with Sonic's skills you might be able to," Andrea said. "Like, I have no upper body strength, but my tail is where most of muscle is. I'm sure you've noticed my skills in acrobatics,"

"I saw your show earlier, what was that thing you were doing to those people?"

"I have the ability to create illusions," Andrea's eyes began to flow a light blue. Miles only stared at her curious. Eventually Andrea began to focus harder, but still Miles saw nothing out of the ordinary. Eventually, Andrea dropped the glowing eye trick to huff at Miles. "I created the most beautiful scenery, and you just acted like nothing happened,"

"You did?" Miles asked surprised.

"Yeah, did you not see it?"

"_We didn't see what the people at the show we're seeing either_," Sonic said.

"That's interesting…" Andrea muttered.

"It might just be the fact I have a Chaos Emerald," Miles said shrugging.

Andrea sighed then looked out the window of her trailer. "Well I want to rest up before we do anything, so why don't you swing by tomorrow…or whenever you wake up," Miles nods then walked towards the trailer door. Miles opens it then closes it behind him. Andrea sighed again. "So…he just wants to fight the Destructix for a friend?"

"_Something wrong with that_?" Amy asked.

"Well…so many people I've met haven't done something good simply for others…this world is just so bad. I just thought…keeping everyone at a distance would be best. After all…my only friend…"

"_Don't be silly Andrea. Sure there are plenty of those who want do good things for the wrong reasons. Sometimes it's vice versa. I believe everyone is good in their own way, especially if they don't give up on their dreams. You haven't given up and neither has he. Trust me, I bet when the time comes, he'll prove you can trust him_,"

"You don't know him any better then I do, so why are you so sure?"

"_Because, he made a connection with Sonic. I can't think of anyone else who's so committed to doing the right thing that they'd die for it…well besides our other friends. Let's rest up and get ready for tomorrow_,"

* * *

Miles stepped into his room in the hotel. Rose seemed to've recovered from earlier, but was still visible shaken. She had obviously been worried for his safety once he left the hotel and was greatly relieved he was okay. Miles began to take off his jacket, his gloves, and his shoes. Miles detached his Chaos Emerald from his belt.

"_So, what do you think of Andrea_?" Sonic asked.

"She's nice, a little crazy, but her head's in the right place," Miles said as he began stretch his aching body.

"_She called you a hero_,"

"Yeah…I know…"

"_And?_"

"Well what else is there to say? She said I was acting like a hero. We both know I'm not,"

"_But what you did was very hero like_,"

"How so?"

"_A hero isn't afraid to stand up for what's right, and not afraid to fight for those who can't fight for themselves. Heroes aren't defined by how many people they save, but by their character_,"

"Their character?"

"_Yeah, so let's try and continue to fight for the ones we care about_,"

"Right…whatever you say…" Miles said getting into his bed.

* * *

Miles was sleeping peacefully on his hotel bed. He sighed heavenly as he continued to sleep. Suddenly, a furry object began to rub against Miles's nose. Miles scrunched his face then turned over away from the object. However, the object came again rubbing his nose. Miles unconsciously moved his hand to rub his nose when it was met with a handful of whip cream. Miles jolted awake surprised.

"What the heck!" Miles exclaimed trying to whip away the whip cream. He just barley wiped the substance from his eyes to stare forward. He saw a little kid with a mischievous smile. A feather in on hand, and a can of whip cream in the other. He has tan skin and looked pretty young, short black hair that stood up, and one of his arms was in a cast. "Who are you?"

"My name's Mike, and that's for my sister!" he exclaimed looking sternly at Miles.

"Your sister?" Miles questioned. Miles thought on who this boy looked like trying to place it.

"Yeah, my sister, Rose,"

"Oh, so your Rose's little brother," Miles said as he began licking at the whip cream on his face. "And what do I owe this wake up call for?"

"It's because of you my sister was really upset yesterday, and those jerks messed with her," he pointed his uncasted arm at him.

"You blame me for that huh," Miles said still licking at the whip cream while getting out of bed and getting dress. Mike stared at him sternly, but Miles didn't seem to pay him much attention. Miles walked into the bathroom for a moment, and then emerged his hand and face whip cream free. "Nice joke,"

"I saw it on TV,"

"I bet you did," Miles said patting him on the head as he walked by. The younger boy only glared at him, and then noticed Miles's Chaos Emerald sitting on the nightstand.

"Wow, this so pretty," he said.

Miles shot a glance in Mike's direction. "Yeah, I guess you could say that," Miles gathered his things then took his emerald to attach to his belt. "You can tell your sis I'll be heading out now, but I'll be by to say hello later," Miles said walking towards the door. Mike looked at Miles skeptically.

"Aren't you mad about the whip cream?" the boy asked following after Miles.

"I would've been mad if that stuff wasn't whip cream. Harmless prank, no harm no foul I guess," Miles was genuinely unconcerned with the boy's antics. Miles tended not to sweat the small things, if he could help it. Secretly he loves taking the fun out of pranks by not even caring, robbing the joy from the prankster.

Miles quickly made his way down to the lobby, with Mike in tow. Miles escorted the boy to the front desk then left in a hurry. He planned on meeting up with Andrea back at the circus. He quickly hurried over there passing people in a blur. He was starting to grow accustomed to going this speed. It took Miles only a few minutes for him to arrive at Andrea's trailer. Miles knocked on the door.

"Andrea, you there!" Miles called.

"Up here!" came her voice from on top the trailer. Miles raised an eyebrow at this. He performed a small bound to land on top of the trailer, and to see Andrea stretching. "Okay, ready for today's workout?"

"I guess, what will we be doing?"

"Amy and I talked about that last night. She thinks you should teach me some moves, and I'll teach you some of mine,"

"Fair enough, where to?"

"Lets go to that area with all the windmills,"

"Alright then," Miles walked over to Andrea then lifted her bridal style. Andrea looked at Miles shocked and her face heated up a bit. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah, just don't drop me,"

"Sure, hang on," Miles then performed a long bound off the trailer then set off toward the Windmill Village. Miles had passed that area on his way to Apotos, so he knew just where it was. Miles dashed through town moving quickly. He had to admit it felt different actually carrying someone this time around. He was really glad that he had not told Andrea that this was his first time carrying someone like this. However, with Andrea's constant fidgeting and her obvious discomfort he guessed she already knew. Miles's feet slid against the dirt as he began to screech to a halt. He stopped in an area that was surrounded by boulders. The boulders looked about half the size a regular two-story house. Where he stood was in the center with what used to be luscious grass. "This looks like it would've been such a nice place,"

"Yeah…" Andrea then wiggled out of Miles's arms. "Alright time to get down to business," Andrea then pulled up her gloves up a little more. "Since you can't see my illusions they wont much help us. That means we'll have to do this for real,"

"Alright, so what do you think?"

"_We'll have to get your reflexes up to snuff_," Sonic said. Miles was surprised that Sonic hadn't said much of anything all day.

"That means…"

"We try a little boulder dodging," Andrea said smirking at one of the boulders.

"W-What?" Miles said a little put off.

"Trust me I think this might work," Andrea said summoning her Chaos Piko Hammer. Andrea rushed toward a boulder then slammed her hammer on it to shatter pieces of it off. The pieces were about half the size of a small station wagon. "Heads up!" Andrea exclaimed launching a giant piece at him.

"Whoa!" Miles exclaimed turning his torso out of the way. "A little warning next time!"

" I said, heads up!" Andrea said launching another.

Miles hopped up bringing his knees to his chest avoiding the next boulder. However, one had nicked him in the shoulder. Miles was stunned from the sudden contact and was unprepared for the next upcoming piece of boulder aimed for his head. Miles noticed it at the very last second and turned his head as the boulder barley breezing by. Miles looked at Andrea stunned, and she stared back a bit surprised as well. She smiled then broke off more pieces of bigger boulders then began to launch the medium size boulders at Miles. Miles breathed a cleaning breath then prepared to move.

"_The game ends when you can tag Andrea_!" Amy called.

"You'd better move quick," Andrea said.

Miles smirked. "Try and keep your aim straight," Miles charged forward toward Andrea as she launched more boulders. Miles performed a one handed front handspring, then kicked off of three of the boulders, then he landed on a boulder in midair, and then he went so far as to smash right through another giant piece of rock with a spin attack. Andrea kept swinging away with her hammer trying to perfect her swing and see from which angle is most effective.

"_Hey, Andrea, you said most of your muscle is in your tail right, try using that_," Amy said as Miles was turning his torso with his arms out.

Andrea pondered on the idea. "Maybe…" Andrea wrapped her tail around the hammer then launched a boulder at Miles. The boulder went was shattered to pieces as it went flying toward Miles. The smaller pieces were about the size of Miles's entire torso and there were numerous amounts of them. Miles facial expression showed he was freaked.

"_Stay calm remember_," Sonic reminded.

"Oh…right," Miles thought back to when Sonic had saved him from that fall. Miles ran forward toward the hailstorm. He stayed on his toes as he bounded to the left and right in order to dodged accordingly. Miles then flipped forward then right when his feet touched he leaped up to perform a triple corkscrew flip that landed him right on Andrea's side. "Tag,"

"Oh, it seems you got me,"

"It does seem like it doesn't it,"

"How was my hammer technique?"

"Good, but you could use a little work on trying to apply your moves in combat. Since you swing better with your tail instead of your arms, I vote you make that your haymaker,"

"Next, combat right?" Andrea asked.

"Yep, ready, go!" Miles exclaimed.

Andrea turned to swing her hammer at Miles with it back in her hands. Miles jerked his head back just out of her range. Miles then performed front flip over her just as she swung a backhanded swing. Miles landed crouched down on his feet behind Andrea.

"You're just swinging Andrea, swing like your trying to actually hit me," Miles said as he fell back on his hands as Andrea's hammer breezed right above as she turned to swing at him.

"Well you are pretty quick," Andrea said spinning the hammer in her hands then brought down a hammer swing. Miles had anticipated this and pushed off with his arms to launch himself just above Andrea's head. "Hey!"

"Try blocking this!" Miles performed a single somersault then extended his leg. Andrea predicted an axe kick, so she raised the handle of her hammer above her head to block it. She grunted with one eye closed trying to hold the attack back. Miles kicked off then performed a single flip in the air to gain distance between them, also allowing Andrea to get her bearings.

"I thought I was stronger then you?" Andrea said.

"You are, but strength always pales in comparison to technique. That's your problem you lack technique. You're just swinging to hit me, not coming at me with any sort of strategy,"

"_That's what made Amy so dangerous, she had the fire, the strength, and the strategy. If she had a much cooler head then she might be even better_," Sonic said.

"_Thanks for the compliment…I think. Andrea you got get that fire in you burning girl. You got it lit you just need to express it using your hammer. There's not much strategy to it, let your swings represent what you feel in your heart_," Amy said.

"What I feel in my heart huh…" Andrea muttered.

"Ready for another round?"

"You bet!"

Miles came at her with blistering speed, but she didn't let it bother her. She slammed her hammer on the ground catapulting her into the air and making Miles blast right past her. Miles reached down to the ground with his hands to anker himself back up. Andrea tossed her hammer into the air then began to perform a serious of backhand spring toward Miles. Miles studied her movement then charged forward accordingly. Miles performed a dashing hook punch, but Andrea noticed him and was already safely above his head before he could connect his attack. Noticing he missed Miles came to a stop which allowed Andrea to place her foot on his shoulder. Then her tail reached up to grab her hammer then she performed a backflip and as she up righted herself the hammer slammed into the back of Miles's head throwing him to the ground. Miles rubbed his head then turned his head to meet Andrea's smug face.

"How'd ya like that mister Kung fu?" Andrea said.

"Not bad, but…" Miles quickly swung his leg knocking her feet from under her. Andrea though had complete control of her body as she fell. In complete sequence both Miles and Andrea performed their own series of backhand springs successfully gaining distance. "I let you have that one,"

"Oh yeah, sure you did,"

"Good fight though Miss Andrea," Miles said relaxing his stance then walking over to her. Andrea smirked as she released her hammer.

"Same to you,"

"I think we should take a break for a little bit,"

"I think that's a good idea. By the way Miles, how old are you?"

"14, you?"

"Ha, 16,"

"No way, I've got at least 2 feet on ya!"

"I can't help when I was born,"

"But we can help for when you die," came a voice. Miles and Andrea both turned around to see The Destructix, all of them staring menacingly at them.

"You guys, already?" Miles asked.

"We didn't want you guys to get too adjusted to those powers of yours. Why don't you just hand over the gems," Sleuth said.

"What gems?" Andrea said.

"Playing stupid will get you nowhere, after all I do have the eyes of a hawk," said Predator Hawk smirking while showing his claws.

"Gem-y-shiny-pretty-powerful!" sputtered Flying Frog.

"We shall relieve you of them now," said Sgt Simian.

"Well I know something you can relieve us of," Andrea said pulling out her Chaos Piko Piko Hammer. "Pent up aggression,"

"Oh, I've been waiting for a round two with you guys," Miles said as hedgehog quills made of chaos energy burst from his back.

"Heh this is hilarious. You chumps couldn't take us on your own, so you decided to buddy up," Drago mocked.

"Almost as funny as us believeing you guys were actually a threat. We just weren't used to these powers yet, but now that we've got adjusted…" Andrea said.

"You're toast!" Miles said picking up Andrea then dashing forward.

Sgt. Simian was the first to meet them head on. Miles smirked at Andrea and she at him as they both approached him. Miles tossed Andrea up then slid between the ape's legs. Sgt. Simian was at a lost on whom to go at first. Andrea slammed her hammer on top of his head making the ape lose his composure. Miles came to halt behind the ape then flipped backward avoiding a dive from Predator Hawk and then turned sharply in midair to slam the side of his foot into the side of the ape's head. Flying Frog tried to jump Miles's from behind but Andrea was quick to come in and slam the handle of her hammer on top of the Frog's head. Then she gave a mighty backswing that sent the Frog really flying.

"Hey, you know we can't do this without banter right?" Miles said to Andrea as he leaned his torso out of the way of a hook punch by Drago.

"Kinda busy," Andrea said slamming the top part of her hammer down onto Predator Hawk's head, and on the other end slamming her handle up into Lightning's chin.

"Funny, it feels like the words just come to me," Miles said vaulting over Drago who tried to hit Miles's with his claws. "I thought Wolf's were supposed to be skilled hunters, or is this the reason why you only go after wounded deer," Miles said falling back on his hand as Drago turned for a karate chop.

"Hey why don't you-," Drago was caught off as Miles brought his foot into the side of his mouth as he flipped backward.

"I'm sorry I didn't quite catch that with the fact my foot was in your face," Miles then noticed Sgt. Simian about to get the drop on Andrea as she battled Lightning and Predetor Hawk. Miles also noticed Flying Frog coming at him. Miles jumped up to meet Flying Frog in the air, however Miles knew the Frog had the advantage. Miles opted to vaulting over the Frog using the latter's head instead. Miles then came down with spin attack catching the ape in the side.

Andrea noticed Sgt. Simian once Miles had attacked him and knew she should be to one to put the ape down. The ape was still trying to compose after Miles's attack so she took her chance. She ran toward Sgt. Simian allowing Miles to keep Hawk and Lightning busy for the moment. She put her hammer in her tail's grip then went at the ape. Sgt. Simian had his bearings and noticed her. He performed a hammer punch forcing her to fall back using a backhand spring. She didn't give up though she dived forward. The ape noticed her then swing his arm for a backhand strike, but Andrea pulled her body underneath then did a small roll then flipped backwards smashing in the hammer into the ape's bottom jaw. He staggered back at the pain.

"Come on, your not scared of little ol me,"

"You wont me to get serious, then I shall!"

The ape went at her with new vigor. Andrea ducked then under a hook punch then leaned backwards for an uppercut. The ape jabbed forward, and Andrea responded by spinning around it then slamming her hammer into the right side of the ape's jaw. Ape was getting dizzy but still kept swinging in fury. Andrea flipped onto the ape's fist, so Sgt. Simian threw his arm up to throw her off, but she simple slid off only receiving a fraction of the height. She flipped backwards slamming the hammer into the bottom of the ape's jaw. She then jumped on his arm, which made him throw his arm hard to throw her off. Andrea only smirked at how big a fail the attempt was. She already pushed off before the throw was completed. Sgt. Simian quickly swung his body around to perform a spinning backhand. However, Andrea's reflexes were quick as she simply placed her hands the arm just as it passed by and quickly pushed off before she went with it.

She performed a somersault that slammed her hammer into the center of Sgt. Simian's face. His head was jerked back as he stumbled backwards. Andrea released her hammer from her tail then put her hands on it.

"_Andrea, use that move I showed you before!_"

"Storming Hearts!" Andrea exclaimed swing her hammer. A burst of Chaos energy was thrown at Sgt. Simian in the shape of hearts. Sgt. Simian crossed his arms, but he was easily overwhelmed and thrown across the field and into a solid rock wall. Andrea huffed brushing herself off. She suddenly heard a whistle. She turned to see Miles standing with his arms crossed smirking at her. Andrea looked past Miles to see he had already dealt with Flying Frog, Lightning, Predator Hawk, and even Drago. Andrea's eyes widened a bit surprised. Miles noticed her look.

"Oh, those guys? They weren't that tough," Miles, said brushing of the quick victory he had over them. "Besides…we still have one more to go," Miles said turning to Sleuth that seemed to be the last one standing. "It's over Sleuth, your group of nit wits weren't up to the hype they built up,"

"All that talk, but once we knew what we were doing then they were really easy to beat actually," Andrea said slinging her hammer onto her shoulder.

Sleuth growled at them, then smirked. "Well, can't say I didn't see this coming. Once I found out you two found each other, I had a sneaky suspicion that you two might be a problem,"

"I have to admit, we did work pretty well together," Miles said with his arms still crossed.

"And we we're just working together separately, I wonder what would it be like to work together on one guy," Andrea said smirking at Sleuth who seemed to not like the idea at all.

"You should feel ashamed to what you've done to these people, and it's only right we give you what you deserve," Miles said.

"This world…this world no longer believes in heroes kid. It's simply survival of the fittest, and I say we're playing that game well,"

Sleuth said.

"You didn't have to hurt these people though,"

"Don't make me laugh. You think they would've done anything for us if we did this out of the kindness of our hearts. This world is ungrateful so I say let the darkness have it!" Miles gaped a bit when he heard him say that. He thought the exact same way as Sleuth, so who was he to judge?

"But you have power…" Andrea began gaining both of their attentions. "You can defend yourself in this world, which gives you the duty to protect all those you can. This world may not want saving, so tell them to shut up and save em anyway,"

"Be the hero…that nobody wants?" Miles muttered to himself.

"No," Andrea said catching what Miles said. "Be the hero you want to be,"

Sleuth huffed, "That's so idiotic. That shows what children you are,"

"Well sometimes a child's purity is the best kind of trait a hero needs," Miles said.

"Alright then heroes, lets see if you can put an end to Kodos,"

"Kodos!" both Andrea and Miles exclaimed.

"As I understand, Kodos is supposed to be on a rampage right about now. He gets grumpy when he's denied what he wants, say those Chaos Emeralds you have," Miles and Andrea grit their teeth. "So, I suggest not wasting your time on me and going to stop Kodos, and the possible herd of monsters that are on their way here,"

"Jerk!" Miles said performed a spin attack into Sleuth's jaw.

"Hasben!" Andrea said swinging her hammer and knocking Sleuth across the field. Miles scooped up Andrea then charged toward Apotos at top speed. He actually was able to get his feet spinning like a wheel. Andrea was really shocked Miles finally learned how to rev his feet, but Miles was so focused on getting back to Apotos he didn't even notice. "Listen Miles, I'll leave Kodos to you, I'll take care of those monsters,"

Miles looked at her unsurely, "You sure?"

"Trust me, besides we got people to save now," Miles wasn't too sure, but he trusted Andrea. Miles took a turn heading toward the entrance of the town. Andrea dropped out of his arms then gripped her sneakers to the ground to come to a stop. She saw the approaching monsters coming in all shapes and sizes. She looked back to see Miles hesitating to leave her behind. "Go Miles, Kodos is the immediate danger, I got this. Trust me,"

Miles looked at her then nods. "Okay, I do trust you, and I hope you trust me that I wont leave you to fight by yourself for long," Miles offered those words as he dashed off to try and put an end to Kodos's rampage that was becoming much more apparent with the feral like screams. Andrea turned toward the horde of monsters coming her way.

"Amy, you're gonna have to lend me all you can right now,"

"_I got your back, and try and remember I'm not the only one_," Andrea smirked at that. Then got serious as she charged toward the first wave with her hammer in hand.

* * *

Miles blasted through the city at sonic speed. He wanted to find Rose first so he could confirm her safety. He also remembered that her brother, Mike, was with her today. He wanted them safe before he dealt with Kodos. However, he was beginning to worry while following the trail of destruction left in Kodos's wake.

"_Miles, I want you to be really careful. Kodos is strong, so you're gonna need speed. Work around it, and don't worry I'm here to help_,"

"I know, I wont let these people down," Miles then heard a scream, it sounded familiar, so this prompted Miles to speed up his pace. Miles turned a corner to see a shocking sight. A crowd of people were trying to calm Kodos down, but to no avail. In one hand he has a large battle-axe with a blade about the size of Miles's arm. In his other hand he has a woman by the throat. A woman he recognizes. "Rose!"

"Let go of my sister!" Mike barked at the beast as he roared. Mike threw at rock at the beast gaining his attention.

"Stupid overlander!" he barked raising his battle-axe above his head to bring down on the small child. Mike froze in fear, and Rose was too scared to even blink. She screamed hoping this would perform some miracle of some kind.

It did in some way.

Suddenly, Kodos was disarmed, and in another flashed Kodos was knocked down forcing him to release Rose. Rose fell to the ground but she fell in a strong pair of arms. She opened her eyes to see the furious face of Miles.

"Miles!" She gasped. Miles walked her over to her brother.

"You guys okay?" Miles asked them both. They both stared, but they managed a nod. "Good," Miles gently sat Rose down on her feet. "Take care of your sister kiddo, and I'll take care of this guy," Miles said as he gave Mike a soft pat on the head. Miles then removed his backpack then approached the recovering Kodos.

"Who dares, attack Kodos!" he barked.

"I dare," Miles said stopping in front of Kodos. "If that little tap got you upset, oh you're gonna be absolutely insane with anger when I'm done with you,"

"I will shred you to pieces!" Kodos yelled holding up his axe and charging forward.

"Bring it!" Miles exclaimed. As he charged forward to meet Kodos head on hedgehog quills popped out of his back. "Let me show you how afraid of you _**I**_ am!"


	7. The Appllause

_**The Wielders of Chaos part 7**_

"_**The Applause,"**_

Miles knew that Sonic said that it would've been best if he handled Kodos personally. However, it was one of those times when Miles simply acted instead of thinking. Miles leaped over Kodos's head as he swung his giant battle axe. The axes twin blades were about the size of Miles's entire arm and could possibly slice him in two if he was no careful. When Miles touched down onto the ground he performed a tuck and roll then turned to face the enemy in a fighting position. However, he quickly had to dive out the way again in order to avoid a hammer slash that smashed into the ground.

"Stand still and fight!" Kodos demanded swinging his fist that wasn't holding the axe. Miles narrowly bounded above the strike. "Spineless coward!"

"You're like ten times stronger than me and you want me to fight you head on….good luck getting me to do that," Miles said jumped back as Kodos swung his axe in a horizontal slash.

"_But he is right, we're gonna need to go on the offensive sooner or later_," Sonic said.

"Kinda hard!" Miles exclaimed as he twisted his torso as the axe breezed by his body. Miles then jumped back toward a wall to plant his feet on it. Kodos jumped up to punch forward, only for Miles to flip forward as Kodos's fist pasted through the brick wall. When Miles came back around he performed an axe kick on Kodos's head. Kodos fell to the ground as Miles landed behind him. Kodos was quick to react as he spun around to perform a spinning backhand strike. Miles went sliding against the ground because of the force behind the attack.

"I shall end you!" Kodos exclaimed as he raised his axe.

"Do you ever stop yelling?" Miles asked as he rolled out of the way of the axe as it came down. Miles noticed the axe was embedded deep into the ground. Miles took this chance to strike Kodos's wrist in order for him to loosen his grip on his axe. Noticing that his grip was far too tight to just knock off in one swift motion Miles jumped forward to deliver a spin attack into Kodos's jaw. This successfully ridded Kodos of his weapon. "There without that big axe it should be easier to deal with you,"Miles said coming out of spin form to deliver a strong kick into Kodos's jaw.

Miles then tried to follow up with a hammer punch but Kodos rammed his head into Miles's gut. Then grabbed Miles around his torso then turned to throw him into a wall. The force of the throw was enough to send Miles right trough the wall. Kodos let out a mighty roar then charged into the complex. Once inside Kodos looked around to notice that he was in a bar of some kind. Where he had entered was actually the back of the bar.

"Overlander come out so that we may battle!" Kodos called out as he walked around the empty bar. Kodos then began to sniff the air trying to distinguish Miles's scent.

Miles was actually behind the bar rubbing his sides. He can't say that he's ever been thrown into a building before, and after that trip he was going to make sure it didn't happen again. Miles heard Kodos approaching.

"_Miles, maybe it's best that I take over from here_," Sonic said.

"One more time," Miles growled as he prepared to leap out at Kodos. However, when he finally did jump out it was not unexpected. Miles hopped onto the bar serving table and then he received a hook punch that sent Miles flying to the other side of the bar. Miles landed roughly on a table then to the floor. "Dang it…" Miles groaned out. Kodos approached Miles, so Miles quickly rolled away then got to his feet. He jumped to meet Kodos head on but Kodos slammed his palm into Miles's gut and against a wall. Miles felt around Kodos's hand for a moment as if looking for a point to strike. Miles raised both his hands then slammed them onto Kodos's giant hand. Kodos instantly dropped Miles out of a nerve reaction. Miles then rammed his elbow into the beast to push it back, however Kodos only moved a few steps. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size!" Kodos charged over to him. "Please?" Miles said throwing himself over Kodos.

"Pathetic, to think you're supposed to be the holder of great power such as a Chaos Emerald," Kodos said walking over.

"_Miles, let me show this guy a thing or two_," Sonic said.

"Sonic…I have to do this myself," Miles groaned as he began to stand up. His body ached greatly from such heavy attacks. He didn't know if he could go on, but he knew that if Sonic took over for too long he won't make it. Sonic understood Miles's drive, but he also knew at the rate Miles's was going he wouldn't last long. So, Sonic decided to push Miles in the right direction. Miles's Chaos Emerald began glowing a bright navy blue light, and then Miles's eyes changed to emerald green.

"Alright Kodos, let's see you take me on now," Sonic said as he pulled himself onto a table. Kodos launched himself forward at him. Sonic vaulted over the vicious saber tooth tiger using his head. Not being the graceful type Kodos landed face first to the floor while Sonic landed neatly on another bar table. Kodos rose from the floor the grabbed a table then threw it at Sonic. Sonic leaped to the side then performed a spin dash which Kodos blocked with his forearm. Kodos then swung his arm to launch Sonic toward a wall. Sonic planted his hands and feet against the wall quickly and pushed off toward Kodos. Kodos swung his arm again revealing his claws. Sonic threw himself at arm. Luckily, his body weight and momentum were enough to cancel out the attack. Sonic flipped off the arm just as Kodos raised his other to strike.

"_**Sonic, back off I said I wanted to do this!**_" Miles exclaimed.

"I know Miles, but allow me to show you how to fight someone like this," Sonic said ducking underneath another swing. "See you got the working on a team part, but not the solo stuff quite yet. Allow me to show you just how to create openings,"

Sonic moved around Kodos at super speed leaving Kodos a bit confused. Sonic then came from the side with a strong Chaos energy reinforced spin attack into Kodos's jaw. Kodos rubbed the spot he was struck then turned to Sonic who charged at him then flipped forward. With the momentum he gained he slammed into Kodos, and actually threw him through the wall out the other end of the bar. Sonic jumped back as Kodos hit the concrete.

"What's wrong Kodos, having an off day?" Sonic mocked.

"You won't be so cocky when Kodos is done with you!" Kodos yelled trying to sink his claws into Sonic.

"Let's see Kodos get a clue first," Sonic jumping back away from the claws. Sonic landed on his toes then leaped forward. He performed a one hand stand on Kodos's arm then pushed off to kick Kodos in the head. "You see what I mean Miles?"

"_**Yeah, I think I do**_," Miles said enlightened.

Sonic knew he couldn't fight Kodos the whole time, so he only led Miles in the right direction of how to fight him. The emerald glowed again and Miles was back in control of his body. Sonic had placed him ontop of a lamppost out of reach of Kodos. Miles quickly caught his breath then jumped down to Kodos. Kodos swung his fist, but Miles allowed himself to focus. Miles actually kicked off Kodos's fist to perform a flip as he landed on Kodos's back gripping his fur. Miles then jerked back enough for Kodos's head to fall back. Miles then slammed both his feet into the back of one of Kodos's knee caps. Miles jerked again enough for him to get his feet to the ground. Miles swung his lower body around in order to bring his knee into Kodos's snout.

Kodos placed a hand on the ground in order to shake himself of the attack. Miles then fell to the ground in a crouched position. Then he performed a spin attack into Kodos's gut. This threw Kodos to the ground, but the beast was going to give up that easy. Kodos quickly shot up his arm forward to stab his claws into Miles's head. Miles quickly jerked his upper body out of the way and then he wrapped both his hands around the beast wrist. Miles then pulled his feet up then began to reeve his feet against Kodos's skull. Kodos held strong though and sandwiched Miles against the ground. Miles instantly let go when Kodos raised his arm again and was dazed so much that he was unable to move when Kodos posed his arm to strike again.

Suddenly a rock hit Kodos in the head. It hit one of many Kodos's current sore spots so he was instantly angry, well angrier. Kodos shot his head off to the side to see the people of Apotos.

"Leave we don't want you here!" called out a man in the crowd. The entire crowd yelled out in complete agreement.

"Leave that kid alone you monster!" called out another person in the crowd.

"Stupid overlanders," Kodos growled. "You think anything you do or anything anyone does will make a difference. The hero you all prayed to is gone, you're prayers can no longer be answered. You're out in the cold now, and you need a monster like me! The world deserves a monster like me!"

"No," Miles said starting to get back up. "What everyone needs is a hero,"

Kodos barked out a laugh. "You've been trying to fight me this whole time, simply because you're a hero and it's right?"

"Actually, you just annoy," Miles growled.

Kodos huffed. "These people don't know what they're doing or what they want,"

"And they need a dumb sack of rocks like you to tell them?" In response Kodos slugged Miles who hit the ground rolling. Miles stopped rolling when he hit the wall of a building.

"Stop it!" cried out a voice and then another rock flew through the air hitting Kodos in the back. Kodos growled as he suddenly charged off through the bar again then came back out with his axe.

"I'm the only hope you people have and this is how you treat me!" Kodos yelled as he raised his axe above his head.

"You're just an annoying animal that forget his leash!" called Miles behind him. Miles charged toward Kodos at supersonic speed. Kodos was left agape at how familiar Miles looked just then. Miles leaped over Kodos placing himself between him and the crowd. Kodos was angered and he raised his axe to swing a backswing. Miles leaped over that and toward Kodos. Miles grabbed onto Kodos fur then rammed his knee straight into his snout, and then he flipped backwards throwing his feet into the bottom of his jaw. Kodos was official quite dizzy after the attack that he held himself up on his axe now. "You're also just some creep who thinks they can do what they want since they have strength. I may not be the hero everyone deserves…" Miles came then spun his body around at the same time kicking Kodos's axe from it's position of holding him up. Miles performed a back flip then curled his body to spin. Miles however seemed to unlock a brand new power, the Chaos sonic spin attack. Miles slammed into the back of Kodos's head forcing him face first into the concrete, Miles then bounced off at the same time grabbing one of Kodos's braids to pull himself in to slam his feet on the beast again successfully putting him down. "I'm the one they need,"

The whole crowd was shocked to this. They thought Kodos was unbeatable, unstoppable, that only the hero Sonic could ever put him down. However, in front of them is a boy who put him down and out. Everyone burst into cheers at seeing the fall of Kodos, and the rise of a hero.

"Miles!" called out someone above the crowd. Miles recognized the voice and looked around. The person pushed themselves from the crowd. Miles knew who it was.

"Rosie!" Miles exclaimed stepping down from Kodos's unconscious form. Miles also noticed her little brother was with her. "And the little guy, how you guys doing?"

"That was incredible, I-I didn't think anyone could….wow," she was short of words. However it seemed her brother was the opposite.

"That was so cool! You were like 'bam' and 'pow' and he was like 'roar' and you were like 'no way' and he was like 'ouch'-," It went on like that for a moment.

"Thanks for the support," Miles said sighing and then falling to a knee. It hurt to stand for too long. Rosie came to his side.

"You pushed yourself too hard," Rosie said.

"No…I just need to learn how to duck every now and again," Miles said smirking.

"Hey Miles could you teach me how to do that?" Mike asked.

"Maybe when you're older, and taller," Miles said moving to stand.

"You should really rest," Rosie advised.

"Sorry, but got one last thing to do," Miles said.

* * *

Andrea swung her hammer again knocking away another creature. She quickly then tried to catch his breath. By herself she easily defeated more then half of the monsters. However, she still had some ways to go, and she didn't have the strength to use her illusions. Using Chaos attacks was getting more difficult and it was getting harder to hold up her hammer. She sported many bruises and scratches on her person that she would call lucky shots. Amy had stepped in once or twice during the phase of the battle, but she could not stay in control for long. The creatures were starting to surround her, and she was no battle expert but she knew that's the formula for downfall. She had to get out of this situation and quick.

The creatures pounced all at once.

She used her hammer to launch herself into the air avoiding all of them at once. As she came down she pushed down her handle to slam on one of the creatures head. Dark Ferals were relentless though as she hadn't a moment to sigh until another was upon her. She quickly spun around for a backswing that split a creature in two. Another Feral however dived past her, and although she avoided the dive the claws nicked her face.

"Damn beast!" Andrea said performing a hammer swing on top of the beast that slashed her. That squished the beast flat as a pancake.

"_There seems to be no end to them!_" Amy exclaimed.

"Then allow us to show them the door," Andrea exclaimed raising her hammer. She moved through the crowd with acrobatic precision. She spun around to swing her hammer then balanced herself on the base to perform a split kick two beast at the same time. She knew the only way to properly finish the beast was to smash it, and it was proving to be difficult since the beast just kept coming at such a rate she couldn't focus. She however knew she could hold on or a little while longer.

That is until a Dark Myth showed up.

Now, a Dark Myth is a beast unlike any other. It has claws, spikes, and a whole lot of attitude. It stands at a whopping 10 feet, a giant mouth, it's body looked to be made of black rock but in reality was tougher then steel. It had the ability to morph it's body into anything it chooses, and shoots chaos energy from it's mouth. The Dark Myth got it's name because once someone saw it, or faced it was not seen from again.

Andrea was charging this beast blindly with no idea of this. Andrea jumped up to slam her hammer on the things head, however she noticed the lack of reaction. However it did react by punching Andre to the ground also making her drop her hammer. The beast then stepped on it before she could grasp it again. She growled then looked up.

"I won't… go out like this!" Andrea exclaimed.

"_Andrea hold on, try and summon another hammer!_" Amy reminded her. Andrea did just that as she whipped out another hammer then turned to swing deflecting the beast's hand. However it used it's other hand to pin her down completely forcing her arms to her side. "_Andrea!_"

"Damn, if I wasn't so tired, I'd beat this thing by now," Andrea said squirming. Andrea looked up to see the Dark Myth morph his hand into a spike. "I guess this is it,"

"_Andrea hold on, Miles is gonna come and-_,"

"Get real Amy, I knew all that stuff was talk. Once he beat Kodos he was probably gonna get to me when ever his partying was done. I was prepared to die here, sadly enough," Andrea stated.

"Then you should also prepare to be disappointed!" exclaimed voice.

Suddenly a blue flash slammed into the Myth forcing it back and off of Andrea. Andrea was shocked when a figure bounced off the Myth and landed in front of her.

"Whew, that was some party, I almost forgot about you," Miles said smirking.

Andrea smirked as well. "Shut up," Miles then helped Andrea up to his feet. Miles then turned to the Dark Myth with Andrea at his side. She summoned another hammer. "Don't think you'll get a kiss out of this,"

"Shut up and fight," Miles said.

Miles and Andrea charged forward toward the beast. Suddenly, though from the sky a pillar of fire fell from the sky. Miles dug his feet into the dirt in order to come to a halt. Miles also held out his arm in front of Andrea. Andrea looked at Miles oddly for this action. Miles glared at the pillar of fire that surrounded the beast. Suddenly, a shadowed figure fell through the fire, and in a flash the Dark Myth fell to little pieces. When the flames subsided there was a person. Miles and Andrea stared forward to see a person. It looked to be a girl.

"And who might you be?" Andrea asked. The girl seemed shocked to see them.

"Wow, first time here and already making friends, how nice," she said sarcastically. She wears a deep black trench coat with a gray turtle neck under it. She also has on deep purple pants that are tucked into her black boots. She has deep black hair with red eyes, and she wears small loop earrings.

"Oh great, another sarcastic female, just what we need," Miles groaned.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Andrea asked glaring.

"_I sense that this girl maybe another carrier,_" Sonic said.

"The pillar of fire was a pretty good clue," Miles said.

"But…I don't recall any of the heroes I know having fire powers," Andrea said.

"Well I guess I have to do introductions then, unless you want to," the girls said seemingly talking to herself. Miles then noticed that the burnt pieces of the Dark Myth began come to life.

"Well, miss, it seems that introduction will have to wait. You can fight right?" Miles asked.

"Well if let's hope I'm up to the challenge this world has to offer," she said.

There were five pieces of the beast left. The pieces took the shape of the Myth but only five feet. Miles, Andrea, and the girl quickly moved to take them down. Miles struck first with a Chaos Spin attack, but it was clear he was losing his strength. Miles slammed into the small creature, but needed an extra push courtesy of Andrea's hammer. Andrea used her tail to swing her hammer into two creatures smashing them to pieces. The girl who seemed fresh was making quick work of two of them. She performed flaming somersault kick into the jaw of one of them, and as she up righted herself she slammed her feet down on the other one. Miles came in to assist with a hook kick on her first target. Andrea then came to smash both of them to pieces. The girl unleashed a flurry of flames onto the remains bruning what was left.

"_Wow, she's good_," Amy said.

"_I'd recognize that finesse anywhere_," Sonic said.

"Really, who is it?"

"I see your talking to yourself also," the girl said approaching them.

"I see your done with your barbecue, you mind telling us who you are," Andrea said raising her hammer ready for a fight.

"Gosh, so distrusting. Well, no one is really trust worthy so I don't blame you," she said.

"Optimistic aren't you?" Miles said crossing his arms. "Well I guess we'll start. My name is Miles, and I'm the carrier of Sonic the hedgehog. This is Andrea, and she's the carrier of Amy Rose,"

"Well, the names Sol," she said looking at them. "And I'm the carrier of Princess Blaze the Cat,"


	8. Hitting The Road

_**Wielders of Chaos part 8**_

"_**Hitting The Road,"**_

"Are you sure you have to leave now?" Rosie asked. Currently the three Carriers standing in front the hotel with her and her little brother. Miles had gathered all his things from his room and was all rested up along with his new friends. It was now supposedly midday now, but of course with the forever dark sky no one could tell. Andrea with her limited amount of first aid skill was able to patch up Miles and herself.

"Sorry, but we gotta be hitting the road," Miles said.

"Besides, with us gone the attacks will probably stop, I mean the only reason I would say those monsters kept attacking is because they sensed my Chaos Emerald," Andrea said.

"Yeah, so in a way this whole mess was your fault," Miles said crossing his arms and looking at her.

"Well no one's perfect okay. Besides we beat the monsters back, sent those jerks packing, and liberated Apotos. I'd say that's a good way to spend a weekend,"

"Well thank you for all you've done," Rosie said smiling at them.

"Yeah, come by for a visit again Miles!" Mike exclaimed.

"Sure thing!" Miles exclaimed giving a thumbs up. Miles turned to his new teammates. "Ready to go ladies?"

"Yeah," Andrea said.

"Whenever you're ready," Sol said crossing her arms.

"Alright, later guys," Miles said turning to walk away and Sol and Andrea following close behind. Miles decided to take it slow for both Andrea and Sol. He lead the way out of Apotos and quickly out into the country. Although it was very difficult to tell where exactly they were going seeing as without city lights they had no idea where they were going. Miles took out a map he had gotten from the hotel he stayed at. Miles could hardly see it, but thankfully they had a pyrokinectic with them. Sol alighted her hand providing both light and warmth. "Thanks, now let's see where we should go next,"

"So…" Andrea began. "What's our next stop?"

"Well, naturally we'd want to go for the Chaos Emerald that's closest," Miles said.

"_Hey, Miles, mind if I take over for a minute?_" Miles saw no harm and allowed Sonic entry into his mind. Miles's Chaos Emerald began glowing then Miles's eyes changed to green. "Hey Blaze long time no see,"

Suddenly, Sol's emerald also glowed a purple color and her eyes turned violet. "Nice to see you again Sonic,"

"I'm confused about something," Amy suddenly spoke apparently she switched with her carrier also. "How come you're trapped in a Chaos Emerald too Blaze?"

"Actually," Blaze held up here emerald to show it was indeed not a Chaos Emerald.

"**Whoa, what kind of emerald is that**?" Miles asked.

"That's a Sol Emerald," Sonic gasped.

"Isn't it dangerous for the Sol Emerald, and Chaos Emerald to be in the same realm?" Amy asked.

"Well, to be honest this darkness your facing is the same as the one on my world," Blaze said sadly.

"Really, then you…" Sonic began.

"The warriors in my realm also fell to it, just as I have…" Blaze said sadly looking at the ground. "However, I learned that this is the second chance needed to save my world. By bonding my spirit and others's spirit to my Sol Emeralds we are able to gain strength and fight again. It's actually thanks to a friend of yours,"

"Tikal?" Amy asked.

"No, I believe his name was Chaos,"

"**Chaos**!" Sonic and Amy exclaimed. Sonic was so shocked he almost drop the map on the fire Blaze was keeping.

"**Who's Chaos again**?" Andrea asked.

"**Isn't he that water monster that had completely devastated Station Square, and almost destroyed the world**?"

"The very same," Sonic said. "But when I fought him as Super Sonic I was able to rid him of all his anger. I guess he's on the level now,"

"I'm really surprised that Chaos is getting involved," Amy said.

"Well thanks to his power of Chaos and it's relation to the Sol Emeralds, he was able to work this magical miracle. He also allowed me and others to journey to this plain in order to combat the source of the darkness,"

"When you say others, you mean others who bonded with the Sol Emeralds from your world?" Sonic asked.

"Surely you did not believe I was the only hero on my world. It's actually because of you that I got to know and trust them,"

"That's great Blaze, any chance Marine will be among them?"

Blaze's eyes down casted to the ground. "I…I'm sorry to say she's gone… for good," Sonic's eyes also down casted. Visibly saddened that was it for the little adventurer. Sonic admired her adventurous spirit, and now he's filled with even more regret that he was the cause of her short adventure coming to a tragic end. "Please don't blame yourself, you had nothing to do with it Sonic. I understand that you tried your best in your final hour,"

"If only I was fast enough…." Sonic sighed sadly.

"Listen Sonic," Amy said stepping in. "We have a second chance now to get things right. We can do this, and with another set of fighters on our side we'll definitely get things done. Try not to worry so much,"

"Thanks Amy," Sonic said as he turned back toward the map. "You guys feel anything?"

"It's possible that I may only be the first to reach this world and the others may still be back on my world trying to gain control of their Carrier," Blaze said. "Sol was relatively easy to connect with, and her superb fighting skill only helped things along,"

"**Thanks, but I'm not all that you know**," Sol said.

"That's nice and all but me and my boy Miles are one titanic team. Nothing is gonna stop us!" Sonic said.

"Good to see you're still confident, too bad we have no idea where we're going," Amy said.

"**Hey Sonic, why don't we try that trick we did back at Soleana?**"

"Good idea," Sonic said. Sonic unhooked the Chaos Emerald off his belt. "Let there be light!" Suddenly the Chaos Emerald began to pulsate, as did Amy's and Blaze's. Soon all three shot a powerful beam on intense energy into the sky. This literally ripped a hole in the darkness that covered the skies. Sonic was almost thrilled to see the sun again after so long. However, it as short lived as the darkness soon rolled back in to cover up the light that was given plunging everything back into darkness. "Well that was a bust,"

"**Wonder why that happened**?" Andrea said.

"**The Darkness is probably too strong for only three emeralds to break through. It's only realistic that it wouldn't work**," Sol said.

"**Then we just have to get more friends along for this little ride**," Miles said. Soon enough the carriers switched back into their bodies regaining control. All three of them looked slightly fatigued from the process. "I don't think… I'll ever get used to that,"

"Ditto," said both girls.

"So, Sol, what's life like for you?" Andrea asked catching her breath.

"Well…if you don't mind I'd like to keep the back story a minimum for now, not until I know you guys way better,"

"Fair enough," Miles said.

"Then how are we supposed to trust you if we don't know anything about you. How are we going to be friends?" Andrea said obviously not accepting the rejection.

"We don't have to be friends. Being friends isn't a requirement of saving our worlds. We just work together, and that's it," Sol said.

"That's not it!" Andrea exclaimed. "Miles and I are friends now!"

"We are?" Miles asked.

"Yes, we are," Andrea growled through clenched teeth.

"Sorry,"

"I don't see a point, we work together, I'm fighting for the same cause you guys are. What else is there to know?" Sol said throwing her hands up.

"I can't work with someone I know nothing about," Andrea said.

"Oh, so you know everything there is to know about him?" Sol asked jabbing a thumb in Miles's direction. 

"Well I definitely know more about him then you!"

"Uh, maybe we should move on you guys," Miles suggested as he saw things were about to get really heated.

"STAY OUT OF THIS!" they both barked. Miles jumped back holding his hands up.

"_Maybe that wasn't the best move_," Sonic said.

"Ya think?" Miles muttered dryly. The girls continued their argument for what felt like hours to Miles. He doubted they would ever stop, but on the plus side Sol's enraged emotions made the perfect fire giving him just the best reading light. Miles flipped through another page of his book then sighed again. "Those two need something to expend that energy on,"

"_What about that spot on the map there?_" Sonic suggested. Miles glanced down at the map that laid on the ground. He saw no place special besides the place he wanted to visit which is Empire City. "_Look, see, the closest place from here is Mobotroblis. It's best we head there and out this darkness_,"

"Yeah, possibly this darkness is effecting both of them too,"

"_No, that's just girls being girls_,"

"Loud, ratty, and dangerous?"

"_You saying you know a girl who isn't?_"

"That's kinda sexist," Miles said standing up and brushing off the dirt from the ground. Miles quickly came into the middle of the argument. "Alright enough!" Miles yelled breaking up the heated verbal battle. "Listen, there's another city out there, not too far if we go at my pace. We can reach there and rest for a minute alright?"

They both sighed. "Fine," they groaned they then looked at each other then huffed turning their heads. Miles sighed rubbing the back of his head. Andrea walked over to Miles expectantly. Miles only looked at her curiously.

"Well, I can't run that fast, and you're not about to carry her, so let's go," Andrea said. Miles sighed as he turned to Sol.

"I'm not so slow on my feet thank you very much. I can keep pace with you, just don't go too fast," Sol said.

"Alright then," Miles then scooped up Andrea and carried her bridal style. He looked over to Sol who nods. Andrea snatched the map from Miles then held it up.

"Hmm, you're right it's not that far, well as long as we travel 300 mph," Andrea said.

Miles sighed then tried to place himself in the right direction of the path they needed to go. Sol suddenly shot off in front of him leaving behind a fire trail that was relatively easy to follow. Miles smirked at how helpful that was. Miles then ran after her careful the fire doesn't burn him. Sol quickly shot off with the fire boost helping her along. Miles using his supersonic speed easily kept up with her. Miles had grown quite accustomed to carrying Andrea now, and she felt more comfortable too since she wasn't fidgeting like last time. Miles actually found this to be quite comforting. Just running along at this speed feels so liberating. He understood why Sonic did this sort of thing all the time. It was like any place in the world was touchable with this type of transportation, and it gives a great workout.

"_If I remember correctly we're gonna past through the Great Forest to get to Mobotrobolis, so we're gonna need to be a little careful_," Sonic said as they quickly moved about. Miles didn't think they would've gotten so close to their destination so quickly. Miles then began to notice that Sol was starting to decrease in speed. Miles sped up to begin running alongside her.

"You alright?" Miles asked.

"Yeah…just…fine…" Sol wheezed out. Obviously she had the speed, and lacked the endurance. Miles on the other hand was only slightly winded and he was carrying someone. Sol then tried to speed back up in order to keep the path lit. However, in her fatigue she lost focus and was careening toward a tree.

"Look out!" Miles exclaimed yanking her arm and pulled her out of the way. Miles then screeched to a halt also pulling her to a stop. Miles only got a mild burn that he quickly shook off. "You alright?"

"I said I was fine," Sol said yanking her arm away from his grasp. "You didn't have to grip so tight,"

"Sorry, you kinda were about to hit a tree at 200 mph. Thought I'd save you a trip to the dentist,"

"Thanks, but I don't need your help," Sol said.

"I didn't say you did, but with how tired you are it's probably best you try chill for a sec," Miles said.

"You just said it was best we get to the city and out of this darkness. I'm not interested in camping out here, so let's move through this forest,"

"Sonic called this the Great Forest, and I'd bet that this place is pretty much a maze unless you know how to move through it. I don't suggest we burn it down to the ground," Miles then glanced around the dark shadowy forest to see the withered trees. The trees looked like something out of a scary story with barren branches, dying wood, and with a mere breeze some trees simply fell over. "Well what's still standing of it anyway,"

"So?"

Miles sighed, "Andrea do you mind?" Andrea looked at Miles confused. Miles then shifted her from his arms to his back, but once Andrea caught on to what he was doing she shifted herself fully. "Here," Miles said suddenly picking up Sol bridal style.

"HEY!" Sol exclaimed about to set herself on fire.

"Hang on!" Miles exclaimed to both girls. Miles shot off into the forest revving his feet in circular motion through the dark woods. Miles used the small flame that Sol kept going for his sight and making sure he dodged any tree that is in his path. Miles kept up his speed as best he could through the woods hoping to get to Mobotrobolis quickly. Miles felt Andrea's grip grow tighter as he swerved around each and every tree. Miles wasn't really sure if he was going the right way or not, but he knew he was going straight ahead. Sonic however instructed him each step of the way saying he could run the path blindfolded.

"Put me down!" Sol exclaimed and began to thrash. Miles however was able to ignore here thrashing and focused on his direction. Miles suddenly noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Being in a dark forest anything with light immediately alerted him.

"Hang on!" Miles barked as he leaped into the air just as a burst of electrical energy shot underneath his feet. Miles then nimbly landed on tree branch.

"Whoa, where did that come from?" Andrea exclaimed.

"Don't know, but let's find out," Miles said. Miles looked to Sol to realize she stopped squirming. She seemed pretty surprised.

"Hey stop blushing and let's go," Andrea said leaping off Miles's back. Miles was surprised by Andrea's comment and turned back to Sol who turned her head and then forced herself out Miles's arms. She landed nimbly on the ground then shot a glare at Andrea. "Okay, whoever is out there come on out!" Still silence reined over the dark forest.

"Gosh if only it wasn't so dark," Miles said.

"Duh," Sol said smacking herself. "I'm the carrier of a cat, and cat's can see perfectly in the dark," Sol then blinked his eyes closed then opened them again for her retinas to get super sharp like a diamond. Sol's eyes scanned the forest around her trying to pinpoint the attacker. Then with a simple flick of her wrist a knife shot out her sleeve into her hand. She then threw it to her left.

"AH!" cried out a voice.

"Whoa where'd that come from?" Miles asked.

"I can't say there's nothing up my sleeve,"

"Let's put him down!" Andrea said charging forward summoning her Chaos Piko Piko Hammer. Once she came toward where the voice yelled. When she made it she saw a boy with white grayish hair, and yellow streaks. He wore a black leather jacket with a white shirt underneath, gray pants, and hover shoes. "Take this!" Andrea leaped forward pulling her hammer back. The boy quickly yanked out the knife then rolled away from the swing. Andrea winded up only toppling over a tree. The boy shot his hand out at her and a discharge began. Andrea noticed this and performed a back flip just avoiding the blast of electricity.

"Whoa, nice move," the kid commented.

"Let's try this from the top shall we?" Miles said nailing a kick to the back of the boy's head. The boy fell forward then quickly rolled then about face Miles's direction then pushed his hands out at him to shoot out another discharge of electricity. Miles jumped up out of the way of the blast. "Who is this guy, and how is he shooting lightning?"

"Actually it's an electrical discharge," the boy said performing a roundhouse backed by electrical energy. Miles just barley blocked the kick but the discharge was enough force to send him flying into a tree.

Suddenly, Sol joined the battle. She threw a few fireballs at the boy, however he was quicker then she guessed he was. She noticed that it seemed he was skating above the ground. Sol scrunched up her nose leaped forward with a vertical kick back by fire. This scored a direct hit on the boy sending him to the ground. The boy rolled over dodging flaming knives thrown in his direction.

"Boy, this chick is hot," the boy commented.

"Um excuse me, but I believe the comedy portion of this fight falls in my contract," Miles said performing sliding tackle that knocked the boy's feet from under him. Miles put his hand on the ground to stop himself then pull himself up to his feet. "Now, who are you, and why did you attack us?"

"Now if I told you that then I'd have to kill you," The boy said pointing his hand out and sending another discharge of electrical blue energy.

"You can try," Miles said performing a backhand spring narrowly avoiding the blast that missed his stomach by centimeters. When Miles up righted himself he charged forward with a spin attack that hit home in the boy's chest. Miles then followed through with a roundhouse, and then finishing it up with successful haymaker. The boy went down hard.

"Well he's thorough," Sol said.

"Yeah, he tends to really let the fist fly in these type situations," Andrea said.

Miles then planted his knee on one of the boy's arms and placing the bottom of his shoe on the other, "Now, explain, and I suggest no sudden movements,"

"Wow, that was some pretty serious moves ya got there," the boy commented. Miles looked at him sternly. "Okay, okay, my names is Cinos,"

"Alright Cinos, any particular reason you attacked us?" Andrea said holding her hammer threateningly over his head.

"Besides the fact you wanted your butt kicked," Sol said.

"I was on guard duty, thought you guys were monsters," Cinos responded.

"And once you saw that we weren't you decided to keep blasting out attacks," Miles said.

"Well obviously you guys weren't normal because of the fact you saw me in the dark, and dodged that attack before,"

"How did you do that anyway?"

"Like that huh, you're looking at an Ixis Wizard pal, I'm still in training though but you know how that is,"

"Anyway, what were you guarding?"

"New Mobotropolis of course, wouldn't want any monsters near the city," Cinos said. Miles then chose this time to get off Cinos. Miles then offered a hand to him. Cinos smirked as he took Miles's hand and Miles jerked him back to his feet. Cinos stood only slightly taller than Miles did, but it was not that significant. "I'm guessing you guys are on your way there right?"

"Yeah," Miles said.

"Then I'll personally escort you," Cinos said. Cinos then noticed that Miles moved to scoop up Sol bridal style, then Andrea clung to Miles's back. "Does anybody want me to carry them?"

"No!" both girls exclaimed. Cinos sighed then began to hover off the ground.

"Try and keep up," Cinos said shooting off into the dark forest.

"Try not to take too long to get there," Miles called followed after him. Miles followed Cinos for what seemed like Miles, and carrying both girls was starting to get taxing. Sonic informed Miles that they were growing closer and closer to a Chaos Emerald. Miles decided to push his fatigue to the side for the moment and focus on getting through the forest. Miles charged after Cinos who seemed to be enjoying himself a bit too much. Then suddenly they burst from the trees and out into an open plain. Miles was surprised how the forest had ended so abruptly that the new terrain took him by surprise. The new terrain was now flat dirt and seemed to be completely barren. If the dying Great Forest wasn't depressing this huge battle scared land certainly was. Cinos again sped up and he seemed pretty intent on getting to his destination in a hurry. Miles grumbled at how Cinos was so focused on getting there.

"I think he has a pretty good reason," Andrea said aloud. Miles glanced a bit confused, until Sol threw out a fireball that lit a portion of the land. The flames leaped up to reveal an entire horde of monsters was just sitting waiting, but luckily a crystal wall seemed to separate them from. The crystal wall separated them from the horde of monsters, and created a path for them to follow.

"Whoa, that's a lot of monsters…" Miles muttered.

"_We're gonna have to fight those things, I just know it,_" Sonic grumbled.

"_Sadly, I think he's probably right_," Blaze muttered.

"Maybe we should be more positive, I mean this giant crystal wall seems to be providing good protection," Andrea said.

"Yeah, until it falls apart," Sol said.

Miles still kept pace with Cinos seeing as it was only a straight shot now. Cinos then shot down a step hill and towards a dome shaped structure. Miles and the girls gasped as they saw the dome. Cinos quickly came to a stop in front of the dome then punched in some numbers on the side. "Nicole let me in,"

"Welcome back Cinos," said a voice. Then a part of the wall lit up and then opened up to Cinos.

"Come on in guys," Cinos said walking in. Miles closely followed behind as the door closed. Sol and Andrea chose this time to dismount Miles, giving quite the relieved feeling.

"What are you trying to say?" Andrea asked.

"I didn't say anything," Miles retorted.

"Are we to heavy for the big strong man," Sol said poking his arm. Miles huffed at the girls teasing and moved to follow Cinos.

"They seem nice," Cinos said smirking at Miles.

"If you only knew," Miles said. Miles looked around to see that Mobotroblis was functioning quite well It had greenery and everything! The inhabitants also seemed a bit carefree, albeit not totally but much calmer than those on the outside. "What seems to be going on here?"

"Oh you noticed, it's all thanks to the king of Mobotrobolis that things have been able to function this well. With his power he was able to bring peace to us and allowed us a chance to have some form of order," Cinos explained. "Plus, this super cool AI system Nicole is pretty helpful and powers the shield that surrounds the city,"

"Nice," Andrea said.

"So, this is basically quite the safe haven then?" Sol inquired.

"Yeah, you could say that,"

"_I never knew King Maximillan could pull something like this off, or is it King Elise now_?" Amy wondered.

"_It should be Elise whose King now, or at least that's what I heard_," Sonic said.

"_I was not aware that you had a monarchy here Sonic_,"Blaze said.

"_Yeah, but I don't pay it much mine really since I'm always traveling around, but when I was younger this is where I grew up_,"

"So, this King Elise guys is pretty great then?" Miles asked since Cinos was unaware of the conversation between the Mobians. Cinos turned to Miles a little confused.

"Elise?" Cinos asked. Before the conversation could get any deeper there was a long ringing of trumpets. "Oh, the king must be deciding to make an appearance. We should go see at Castle Acorn," Cinos instructed running off. Miles and the girls looked at each other then quickly followed after Cinos. Cinos seemed pretty ecstatic for some odd reason and they just met the guy. Cinos led them toward a crowd of mostly Mobians gathering around the castle.

"So is King Elise going to come out?" Andrea asked.

"Elise…oh you mean the old king. No het got ousted," Cinos said offhandidly. All three carriers looked at him surprised.

"I thought Elise was the proper King of the family of Acorn," Miles said.

"Not anymore," Cinos said suddenly a great wind kicked out on the balcony of the castle overlooking the crowd. Suddenly the wind dispersed to reveal a strange being. "That's our king, Ixis Naugas," Miles's face instantly dropped. Sol then poked Miles's arm. He looked at her and she point back up at the _king_, and on the top part of the staff he held was a bright red Chaos Emerald.

"This could be a problem," Miles muttered.


	9. A Mystical Battle

_**Wielders of Chaos part 9**_

"_**A Mystical Battle,"**_

"I cannot believe this," Miles said walking away from the gathering crowd that we're trying to listen to their _King_ intently. Sol and Andrea followed him out of the crowd. The three of them then decided to simply stand and think since they had nowhere to go.

"Who is that anyway?" Sol asked her red eyes showing curiosity.

"Ixis Naugus, where to begin with this guy…" Andrea said. She knew a thing or two about this guy. "During my years traveling around in the circus, I was accused of being an Ixis wizard once or twice. Almost got ran out of town once,"

"What is an Ixis wizard?"

"I hear their beings that have the ability to manipulate the elements. Fire, water, air, and earth, and the founder of these arts were, well is…" Miles gulped. "Mammoth Mogul…"

"I'm guessing we're gonna have to fight these guys?" Sol asked.

"_You know it!_" Sonic said.

"Sounds like a blast," Sol groaned.

"Well now what do we do?" Andrea said grabbing their attention. "Like we can't go knocking off a king, no matter how ugly and creepy he is,"

"True, but I heard Naugus is a major bad guy, how in the world could he be king?" Miles asked but he wasn't expecting an immediate answer.

"I can tell you," came a voice from nowhere, or more specifically everywhere. Suddenly, a being digitally appeared before the three of them in the form of a mobian.

"Whoa, who are you?" Miles asked jumping back.

"How'd you do that?" Sol asked much calmer but slightly on the defensive.

"No need to be alarmed, my name is Nicole, and I am the advanced AI of Mobotrobolis," the figure said. She looked to be a cat from her appearance.

"AI?" Andrea questioned.

"Artificial Intelligence," Miles answered.

"Oh, cool,"

"Anyway, Nicole, why aren't you swooning after this new king of yours?" Sol asked. Nicole sighed.

"I am mostly unaffected by Naugus's magic," Nicole said.

"Mostly?"

"Come it's best we find a better place to talk," Nicole told them gesturing toward another area. All three of them looked at each other before all nodding to follow her. Unaware to them they had indeed caught the eye of someone. The four of them had quickly moved over to a lake that seemed to give off some strange energy. It seemed that Chao really enjoyed that area. Miles and the girls sat on a stump while Nicole stood in front of them. "Now, I know this comes as a bit of surprise to see someone like that as our king,"

"Yeah, doesn't make a lot of sense," Andrea said.

"You see, Ixis Naugas used his magic to elevate the people's fears. Their fears grew so out of control that they were desperate for anyone to come and save them, no matter who it was. Once he was able to stab off the monsters he was instantly praised and made king…unfortunately,"

"Boy that sounds like a drag," Andrea said.

"And since you're not really a mobian you went unaffected by this," Miles said.

"That is correct,"

"Then can't you do something?"

"Unfortunately, as I said, I am mostly unaffected by Naugas's magic, save his crystalline magic,"

"Crystalline magic?" Sol asked.

"Yes, you see this entire city is made of tiny microscopic machines called Nanites. I am able to control every last one of the Nanites, and the Nanites cannot be controlled by anyone other than me, or destroyed. However, with Naugas's magic he is able to trump me and actually destroy the Nanites…permanently,"

"Yikes that's pretty bad," Andrea said.

"Afraid so,"

"So, now we get down to business," Miles said. "How are we going to get that Chaos Emerald, from him and free the Mobians and people living here?"

"The first step is breaking into the castle obviously," Sol said. Nicole stared at them shocked.

"Please, don't do that!" Nicole exclaimed.

"Huh, why not?" Andrea asked.

"He's simply too powerful with the Chaos Emerald at his disposal, and his elemental magic is second only to the founder himself, Mammoth Mogul," Nicole said.

"I think we'll cross this Mogul bridge when we get to it please," Sol said.

"Agreed," Andrea said. "Besides we can take this clown,"

"No, you don't understand, with the power Naugus commands the old fashioned way will be liable to get you all killed. Not to mention the security around the castle, and his right hand man Geoffrey St. John,"

"Well magical back up is something we all got," Miles said revealing his Chaos Emerald on his belt. Andrea showed Nicole her Chaos Emerald by removing it from her pocket, and Sol removed her Sol Emerald from the inside her coat pocket. Nicole gaped at them, but then smiled.

"This may just be the edge we need!" Nicole exclaimed.

"_Plus, you have the world renowned hero on your side_," Sonic said. Nicole blinked for a moment almost shocked to hear a voice come from Miles, that didn't sound like Miles. "_You heard right Nicole, it's me Sonic_,"

"Sonic?" Nicole asked shocked, but then her face twisted into a smile. "Sonic!"

"_Yep, it's me, how's things been_?"

"More or less bad, but with you here I'm sure we can figure this out. What happened to you, and what's going on?" Nicole asked.

"_A tail for another day I'm afraid_," Blaze said interrupting the reunion. "_The first thing that must be done is securing the royal family still probably somewhere in the castle, am I right?"_

Nicole gasped at the fact the Sol Emerald was talking as well. "My, one surprise after another!" Nicole then quickly shook off her shock to answer Blaze's question. "Yes, the Royal Family still resides in the castle, but merely existing as servants. They try and remain strong as long as they can,"

"Then we shouldn't take long with this then," Sol said. "Naugus's Chaos Emerald probably already picked up on ours or he's aware of us somehow, so we should strike as soon as possible,"

"You think it such a good idea to just assume that?" Andrea asked.

"It's a safe bet, I don't think he'd be foolish enough to just let whoever or whatever roam into his city. Nicole might've informed him," Attention shifted to Nicole who felt down casted.

"I'm sorry…" Nicole began. "I did inform him of new visitors, and gave him an image of you all,"

"Great, so this makes things a bit more interesting," Miles said.

"_That shouldn't stop us though, we should just charge on in_!" Amy exclaimed.

"I vote we take a much more…stealthier approach," Sol said. Everyone turned to her. "Here's what we do…"

* * *

It was finally a point in time to where the entire city calmed down. The citizens were finally all asleep in their beds quietly resting. Castle Accorn was no exception of this either. However, there still existed some activity around the castle. Numerous guards were still stalking the grounds searching for any danger that may be present. They were all heavily built Mobians and overlanders, whose only job was to make sure no one trespassed on these grounds. The Mobians that were currently guarding at this time were giant muscular bears. With their sharp senses and brute strength nothing should be able to take them down easily or quietly. One of the bears stalked to the front of the castle glaring out over the bridge that was over the moat. He was entirely focused on his task. Suddenly, his ears picked up on a sharp sound. He jetted his head to the side glaring in the direction where he heard the sound. As quick as lightning something struck his neck making him unable to call out. Then in another quick motion something came and knocked him off his feet making him fall harshly on the ground. Before the bear could look up someone came down hard on his face leaving him out cold.

The other guards were completely oblivious to this happening. They all continued their jobs normally not noticing that one of their ranks was gone. This time two humans stood at the castle gate with broad swords at their side, ready to defend the castle. However, the swords would do them little good. Suddenly, two shadowy figures came in. One of them was quick as they kicked off the wall above one of them and wrapped their legs around one of the guard's neck. The figure struck the top of the guard's head with their elbow then throwing the guard down face first, and alerting the other guard. However, the guard couldn't open their mouth as a blunt object slammed into his face throwing him into the castle wall. This also left him out cold. The taller one of the figures grabbed the other then quickly climbed the castle wall at blistering speed.

Now the guards at the top were the problem. There were far too many for the two figures to handle quietly. However, flying objects whizzed through the air puncturing guards left and right and making them drop like flies. A few tried to scurry away to alert the guards down below, but they soon noticed that the guards down below were also out cold. The quickest of the figures zoomed by and slammed a guard's head into a wall successfully rendering them unconscious. Once they realized they were safe and currently still unnoticed they decided to offer communication.

"This plan is pretty sick," said a voice with an edge of excitement. This voice was male. Currently the person sported a very usual attire of black.

"Yeah, you're pretty good at this," commented another figure, this one female. Her red eyes pierced through the night since her entire person was shrouded in shadow.

"I'm mad that I'm the only one who had to change outfits," whined a voice that sported a complete black outfit, from shoes, pants, shirt, and even gloves.

"Your outfit was to loud and colorful, we need to hug the shadows not stand out on a runway," commented the other feminine voice.

"I'm sorry that I'm not as built for this as you guys are. It would've been easier if I just created an illusion," she said.

"Well what fun would that be," said the male voice.

"Alright, that was the easy part, now comes the hard part," said the commanding feminine voice.

"You didn't kill these guys did you?" asked the other female voice.

"No, Andy, I just threw some darts at them. Strong enough to put down a small dinosaur,"

"Awe, that's the first you called her that Sol," commented the male voice.

"Alright just focus!" Sol whispered/yelled. "Entering is always easy, the grunts are the ones who hang outside. The guys who are really good are the ones that stay in here, so best we be careful,"

"Right," both Andrea and Miles said.

Sol nods then gestures from them to follow. Sol swung herself over the edge and onto a window ledge. Hoping that Nicole did indeed disable the security alarm for this one window they needed to enter. Sol unlocked the window with record time then lifted it slowly and then peered inside. She saw that no one was around and decided now was a good point to enter. She threw feet in first then plopped onto the floor, and soon after Andrea and Miles were right behind her.

"_Now, we find the emerald_," Sonic said.

"Right," Miles said. Miles glanced at the navy blue Chaos Emerald on his belt and noticed how it glowed. Deeming it worth a try they followed it. Miles and the girls silently moved through the halls of the castle. From time to time Sol threw sharp objects at security cameras to cut off the feedback cord. Miles and Andrea both looked at her and then each other. Clearly she has done stuff like this before. Deciding now wasn't the best time for questions they moved through the giant castle. It wasn't long until they finally did run into opposition though, and it stunk.

"Ew, who was that?" Miles asked holding his nose.

"Not I," Andrea said.

"It couldn't be me," Sol said slightly offended when eyes fell on her.

"_Don't look at us, we don't even have bodies,_" Amy said speaking for Sonic, Blaze, and herself.

"So then, what is that?" Andrea griped.

"Sorry luv, can't help it ya know," came a voice. Sol was quick as she threw a knife from her sleeve that intersected another object in mid flight. Both thrown objects clank to the floor just as a figure appears around the corner. Luckily, they were in a hallway with a long window overlooking the city. The small light from the city alerted to them that the person was indeed a skunk.

"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Geoffrey St. John," he said.

"Oh, you're Naugus's right hand man, or skunk. Would you prefer Mr. stinky?" Miles asked.

"Clever, but I suggest you leave now, however before you do that. Your Chaos Emeralds," Geoffrey said holding out his hand.

"You can't be serious, what do you need them for?" Andrea asked.

"Objects of mystical power and near unlimited energy, and possibly the key to rid the world of this darkness,"

"Only if there in the right hands," Sol growled.

"Aren't our goals the same?"

"No, they aren't. We plan on using the emeralds to actually help people, not enslave them with their own emotions," Miles said.

"My, my, my, has Nicole put you all in a precarious situation,"

"I'm guessing Naugus was expecting us,"

"Once he felt two Chaos Emeralds coming toward the city, he practically leaped for joy and awaited your visit. He gave a speech announcing you all, but you seemed to not want to show,"

"We have nothing to give to this guy, except an old school beating," Andrea said summoning her Chaos Piko Piko hammer.

"Trust me luv, you don't wanna try and take me on," Geoffrey said not being modest in showing the superiority in his voice.

"Well trust me, I really do,"

"Gosh, this guy is full of himself," Miles muttered.

"Then let's stop thinking and act!" Andrea exclaimed charging first.

Miles and Sol quickly went in to back her up. Geoffrey took a battle position and waited for his opposition. Andrea tried to bring her hammer down on Geoffrey, but he swiveled to the side and grabbed her wrist. Geoffrey then turned to throw the girl overhead and into a wall. Geoffrey raised his forearm to block Mile's hook punch. Geoffrey then responded with a palm strike in the center of Miles's chest throwing him back to the floor. Sol came in from Geoffrey side with a side kick into Geoffrey's side. Geoffrey quickly caught himself then placed one hand on the ground to perform a side one handspring to dodge Miles's spin attack. Geoffrey placed his feet against the wall then kicked off avoiding Andrea's hammer from slamming down on him. Geoffrey rolled then dived over Sol's fire sweep kick.

Clearly Geoffrey St. John was not one to be taken lightly. Miles looked to both the girls and they returned his look and then they nod. Miles leaped out at St. John. Miles kicked with a forward kick, but Geoffrey crossed his arms to block it. Miles flipped backward dodging Geoffrey's counterattack. Miles crouched down then engaged Geoffrey again with a slide tackle. Geoffrey was quick to jump out of the way. Sol reacted as well throwing a knife at him. Geoffrey responded by shooting out a bolt from his gloved hand while in midair. It hit the knife dead on making both objects clank to the ground. Andrea finally getting fed up threw her hammer at Geoffrey. While in midair still Geoffrey however flipped backwards kicking the hammer into the air as hit feet finally touched down on the floor. Miles shot forward at super speed at Geoffrey. Geoffrey barley side stepped Miles as he ran by, however Miles didn't stop as he ran up the window and onto the ceiling to come right back around. Miles leaped forward to deliver a superman punch into Geoffrey's face throwing him through the window and down below.

"Gosh, that guy is tough!" Miles exclaimed huffing and puffing.

"No kidding, if we keep this up no way will we be able to take on Naugus," Andrea said catching her breath.

"We need to work together," Miles said.

"No, we don't have time, leave him to Andrea and I, you go get Naugus," Sol ordered. Miles looked hesitant to leave his friends behind. "Just go alright we can handle this guy,"

"You two aren't exactly…compatible," Miles said.

"_But we're strong enough to handle this guy. To be honest you were kind of in the way_," Amy spoke up.

"_Agreed, let us girls handle this_," Blaze said sounding strangely snarky. Miles seemed pretty to be pretty convinced to let the girls handle things.

"Alright ladies, don't be too hard on him," Miles said turning to go face Ixis Naugus. Sol and Andrea nod then they look at each other.

"Although I have some serious doubts about you and with knowing so little about you makes me uncomfortable," Andrea began.

"We're both very intelligent woman who can handle themselves maturely. We also allow Miles to think that he's the big strong man we need," Sol said chuckling.

"I know right," Andrea said giggling. Sol and Andrea turned toward the window then leaped down below to where Geoffrey St. John was waiting.

"Well ladies, I'd hate to be so rough," Geoffrey said pulling his glove farther up his hand. "But in your in the way," Geoffrey charged forward as did Andrea with her hammer and Sol with fire covering her hands.

Andrea swung her hammer horizontally, but Geoffrey performed a front flip over Andrea. Geoffrey then quickly bent backwards dodging Sol's hook fire kick. Sol screeched to halt as she came down to the ground. Geoffrey fired one of his bolts at Sol, but the girl was quick to dodge it by diving to the side. Andrea came behind Geoffrey raising her hammer above her head to bring it down on him. Geoffrey quickly grabbed the shaft of the hammer then performed a judo style flip throwing Andrea to the ground. Sol came performing a forward handspring and as she came down flames alighted around her ankles as she came down. Geoffrey sidestepped the attack, and swiftly swung his leg to knock Sol's feet from under her.

Geoffrey swung himself around slamming his elbow into Andrea's gut, and then pushed her away. Geoffrey then performed a palm strike toward Sol, but she blocked it with her forearm. Sol then respond with a vertical kick, but Geoffrey jerked his head away quick enough to avoid it. Sol however didn't stop there as she jerked her body hard enough to bring her other leg around and perform a horizontal kick into Geoffrey's jaw, or so she thought. She felt her foot hit thin air, but she was sure it connected.

"I may not be as good as Naugus, but I still have some skill with the elements," Geoffrey smirked performing a donkey kick knocking Sol to the ground.

"This is getting out of hand here," Andrea said swinging her hammer again for Geoffrey to dodge by tilting his body out of the way. He then responded with a swift punch, but Andrea was quick to block it with her hammer.

"Agreed," Sol said coming in with a flying kick that was rendered useless because Geoffrey turned his body into air making her attack pass through him. "So, let's get serious then, shall we?"

"Lets!" Andrea said as she super charged her hammer. The Chaos Emerald in her pocket glowed brightly releasing a greater light. Andrea's hammer suddenly doubled in size. Geoffrey gaped nervously for a moment, but then smirked.

"You couldn't touch me with a small hammer luv, with that big thing I doubt you ever will," Geoffrey said.

"Don't need to," Andrea said smirking. She raised the hammer high above her head then brought it down. This released a powerful shockwave through the ground. This caused Geoffrey to lose his footing. Sol however was unaffected because she was floating in the air thanks to her flame powers.

"_Alright Sol, move in now!_" Blaze exclaimed. Sol summoned a fire around her ankles, and wrist. Sol came in fast and quickly at such a fast speed. Sol slammed her feet toward Geoffrey and naturally he was unable to move with his footing so weak. Naturally he relied on his magic of the elements to avoid it. As expected Geoffrey wanted to use his wind element. However he overlooked a very important factor.

Air is a very good conductor for fire…

"**AH!**" Geoffrey yelled as the flames on his torso quickly spread.

"Allow me, to stomp that out!" Andrea exclaimed pulling her. She stepped forward winding up her giant hammer. Then brought it out around to slam into Geoffrey's abdomen and send his panicking form flying. Geoffrey met the solid wall of the castle harshly breaking into it. The fire was extinguished on Geoffrey leaving a bit of a burn. Geoffrey was out cold from that single strike. Andrea smirked bringing down her hammer and leaning on it to catch her breath. Sol sighed a breath of relief both tired and glad the fight was over.

"That was pretty intense," Andrea said.

"Glad we got him out of the way though," Sol said. Sol glanced over at Andrea "You're not half bad ya know, I wouldn't mind fighting alongside you,"

"_Yeah Andrea that was great that you were able to use my hammer like that!_" Amy exclaimed.

"Yeah, but…I'm pretty exhausted…" Andrea sighed.

"Me too, I hope Miles can handle things for a minute,"

"_You don't have the time to rest ladies. You're gonna have to try and catch your breath on your way to catch back up with Miles,"_Blaze said.

"I don't know if I have the strength right now," Andrea said.

"Me too," Sol said.

"_Then allow me to take over,_" Blaze said. Suddenly Sol's emerald began glowing and Sol's eyes changed. Blaze looked to see Amy take control of Andrea's body. "We'll make sure not to push your bodies, but we just can't afford to stay here, ready?"

"Yeah let's go," Amy said. "We should also be on the lookout for the royal family,"

* * *

Miles's sneakers slammed into the ground ash he began to leisurely walk. Behind him were many guards laying unconscious on the floor. Miles was approaching the gathering hall of the castle. He had not seen any of the royal family yet, but he supposed that he would deal with that later. Miles noticed the door was only a little ways in front of him as he walked down the dimly lit hall. However, something alerted him of another presence. The room suddenly brightened a bit. Miles turned around sharply only to be blasted in the back with an electrical discharge. Miles was thrown into a wall and then fell to the floor.

"_Miles you okay?_"Sonic asked.

"Yeah..." Miles grunted as he looked to his attacker. "You!" Miles exclaimed surprise. The figure who had blasted him was none other than Cinos.

"Yeah, I am a guard ya know," Cinos said with a serious face. "I can't believe you played me for a fool. I let you guys come into the city for shelter, you guys would've been stuck wondering the dark if I hadn't come along. In return you come here and try to ruin our way of life," Cinos growled. Clearly he felt betrayed all things considered.

"Hey, Cinos, wait it's not like that!" Miles yelled waving his hand.

"Then you're not here for King Naugus's Chaos Emerald?"

"I'm here to put it to good use," Miles corrected getting to his feet.

"Different words same meaning," Cinos said throwing his hands out at Miles. Miles curled up to perform a spin dash to the side of the blast. Miles however was still a bit unskilled in that move and ended up ramming through a wall and into another room. Miles noticed that it was a giant ball room with a chandelier hanging overhead and everything. Miles was thankful for his clumsiness seeing as with this he can move around better.

"Naugus must be using his magic on Cinos too, he's not this serious about stuff," Miles muttered. The fight that he had with Cinos in the forest was proof enough.

"_Convincing him may be hard, unless we show him we're the good guys_!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Alright then," Miles said as he turned toward Cinos who just stepped into the room with electrical energy flowing around his hands. "I guess it's just you and me buddy,"

"Bring it!" Cinos exclaimed waving his arm.


	10. The Ultimate Struggle

_**The Wielders of Chaos part 10**_

"_**The Ultimate Struggle,"**_

Miles darted in between each blast Cinos sent his way turning and flipping as best he could. Miles screeched to a halt then made a sharp cut in the opposite direction to avoid another blast. Miles was gritting his teeth tightly avoiding each blast that Cinos was sending set after set. Miles realized that Cinos knew of his incredible speed and agility, and he also knew that all his attacks came from close range combat. Cinos's plan is to wear him down with long range attacks, and without giving him an opportunity to fight back. Miles flipped backwards into the air then when he touched back down he began bounding forward from side to side. This gave him a chance to get close and gain some form of a rhythm from Cinos's electrical attacks. Cinos glared at Miles then activated his hover shoes to shoot forward towards Miles. Miles forgot about the hover shoes helping him move almost as fast as himself. Cinos rammed his shoulder into Miles throwing him to the floor. Cinos then sent intense sparks through his feet and into the floor towards Miles. Miles threw his legs back as he rolled onto his feet then leaped to press his feet against a pillar on the side holding up a balcony above. Miles kicked off it to land a superman punch into Cinos's jaw. However, the assault didn't go unanswered because as Cinos went down he sent a discharge out his hand nailing Miles in the torso and launching him through the air. Miles hit the pillar harshly shattering pieces of it and then fell to the floor on his hands and knees.

"Dang…that…hurt…" Miles moaned.

"_Miles, ya gotta keep going, or else this guy will take you out!_" Sonic exclaimed.

"Pathetic," Cinos said walking over. He pushed Miles over with his leg making Miles land on his back then Cinos placed the bottom of his shoe on his chest. "You expect to challenge King Naugus with that kind of power?"

"Cinos, listen to me, you gotta come to your senses," Miles grunted. "Besides, I didn't want to fight you,"

"I wouldn't wanna fight me either. Besides I know what I'm doing no one is forcing me,"

"You're being used. Naugus used his magic to over express your emotions. I may not know you well, but I know you certainly don't want to do this!" Miles exclaimed.

"Your right…" Cinos began. "You don't know me," Cinos raised his hand then gathered an intense discharge of electrical energy.

"Cinos, don't make me," Miles warned.

"You're in no position to make threats,"

"Alright you asked for it!" Miles exclaimed. Miles threw his foot right in between Cinos's legs make him bark in pain and making him back off.

"_Whoa…dude…way past uncool_..." Sonic said.

"I know, not proud of that move either, but the other way I knew would probably break his legs," Miles said standing back up. Miles then leaped backward avoiding blast of electricity. Cinos was trying to shake the strike off but he seemed to be having a hard time. "Since I can't reason with him, the next best thing is to beat him till he understands,"

"_Well, go nuts…wait wrong terminology there_,"

Miles charged quickly toward Cinos. Cinos created an electrical barrier around himself that when Miles hit it he was thrown another direction. Miles roughly hit the floor just as Cinos leaped into the air to stomp on him. Miles quickly rolled to the side dodging the stomp then swung his right leg in a complete 360 sweeping Cinos off his feet and landing harshly to the floor. Cinos relied heavily on his magic so he lacked the proper hand-to-hand skills he needed to go toe to toe with Miles, which Miles decided to take full advantage of. Miles jumped back as Cinos swung his arm releasing another discharge in the form a crescent moon as he was half way off the ground. Miles dashed forward so Cinos pointed his hands forward, but Miles performed a somersault right over him dodging the blast and kicking off the back of his head. Cinos caught himself by placing his hand on the ground, and then Cinos turned sharply to send out another crescent wave of electrical energy. However, he aimed to high so this allowed Miles to perform a horizontal split as he dropped to the floor to dodge the attack.

"Sonic, if I bend or split in any other direction I don't feel comfortable with, I may scream,"

"_Running around at the speed of sound really loosens the hips up_," Sonic replied.

Miles then had an idea. Miles pulled himself up quickly before Cinos could release his next attack. Miles threw his back standing leg forward kicking away Cinos's pointed hand and displacing his next attack. Miles got his feet back under him quickly to swing them back around in a helicopter kick knocking Cinos down to the ground.

"Always wanted to do that," Cinos was groaned a bit in pain. "Almost done," Miles then began to really stick to Cinos. Miles punched with a downward hook punch his jaw. Then he rammed his knee into his stomach, slammed his forearm into the side of his face, and finished up with a leg sweep making Cinos hit the head first. "I hope I didn't give him a concussion with all those fast blows," Miles noticed that Cinos was out, so he deemed the fight over.

"Well done…" came a voice. It instantly made Miles's skin crawl just hearing it. The voice sounded deep, but it was also a bit distorted in some ways. Miles looked to see someone standing on the balcony above him. "I didn't expect you to defeat him after I was through with him. You truly have inherited the spirit of the quickster,"

"Quickster?" Miles questioned.

"_Yeah, didn't you know, Naggy and I are super close. We even have pet names for each other_,"

"Good to know," Miles muttered as he moved Cinos more out of the area so he would have room to fight. He felt that Naugus would be underhanded enough to use him. Once Cinos was out of the way he returned his attention back to Naugus then looked him and down up and his face contorted. Naugus was truly a strange sight. He has on a purple jumpsuit that covers and shows off his very well built body, a long white beard giving the illusion that he's quite old, a rhino horn on his head, bat like ears, a long cape, with grey boots and gloves, and his left hand looks like…a crab pincer. He holds a staff in his right hand with the red Chaos Emerald on top of it. "Whew, they really couldn't put humpty dumpty back together again…"

Naugus frowned down at him, "Yes, well, my form is simply the outcome of a struggle for power,"

"You know they have surgeries for this type stuff right?" Miles asked. Naugus whipped up a tornado under his feet then began to ride the wind until he landed on the ground before Miles. He stood at least 6 feet, a couple inches taller than his 5'3.

"Sharp tongue, I can understand why the quickster picked you as his vessel. Is he able to hear me?"

"Yeah,"

"Well, then allow me to send you my greatest gratitude quickster. Without you dying this wouldn't be possible, so thank you," Naugus said with certain snarky tone as he gave a mock bow.

"_I sincerely hope you're not too comfortable, because my carrier is here to give you your eviction notice!_" Sonic exclaimed from Miles's belt.

"Oh, is he?" Naugus said with the beginning of a hysterical laugh coming on.

"Y-Yeah," Miles said unsurely and a bit hesistant. Naugus then went full out with his hysterical laughter sending chills down Miles's spine.

"Silly boy, this is my kingdom. Even if you win, which you won't, you'd be an enemy of the crown. No one would trust you, heck you'd be run out of the city and fed to the monsters waiting outside,"

"If you're so powerful, then why have those monsters gathering at your front door? If I were you I would destroy them so an accident won't happen,"

Naugus chuckled, "My boy, I'm simply using them as insurance. Should someone get wise or the royal family gets out and turns the crowd against me. I can use them to my advantage and show I am the only thing protecting them. They won't dare get rid of me,"

"Do you even know how many are out there?" Miles asked.

"My crystal wall holds strong, and is too tall, it doesn't matter how many come it will hold strong. And the shield the program has protects us from the air so aerial strikes are not possible. We are completely safe in here,"

"You don't have any idea how unsafe you are. Hand over the emerald and we'll make sure to put it to good use,"

"Funny, I was going to tell you the same thing. The emeralds are mine, and I won't be denied again!"

"What do you even want with them?"

"I want to use their power to overthrow Mephiles and take control of his dark empire, and then I won't just be King of a silly little city, but King of an entire planet!" Naugus exclaimed throwing his arms into the air.

"Tch, just using people as stepping stones huh,"

"You simply don't understand yet, but stand aside Carrier or be taken down and your Chaos Emerald removed by force!" 

"I'm definitely going with the second option that is if you can!" Miles said taking a fighting position. Naugus chuckled at him. Growing tired of his insipid laughter Miles made the first move and charged him head on with a midair spin dash. However, Naugus made no move to dodge it. In fact he stood stock still. Miles suddenly passed right through Naugus's body. Miles was so shocked his spin dash slammed into the ground and it was turned against him as he went rolling against the ground uncurling.

"Foolish child, I control the elements!" Naugus said raising his arm making a flat rock stalagmite pop out the ground to slam into Miles's stomach as he was rolling. This launched Miles into the air, literally. Air was moving around him stopping him and then it harshly slammed him into the ground. Naugus waved his hand sending a mighty wind his way throwing Miles through the air and at his mercy.

"_Miles, the wind is your element too!_" Sonic exclaimed.

Miles grits his teeth as he managed to get control of his body despite the wind blowing so harshly around him. Miles then got his feet back on the ground as he slide into a wall. He glared at Naugus then charged directly at him and great speed. Naugus smirked ready for him. Miles suddenly took a sharp cut to the side surprising Naugus a bit.

"Gotcha ugly!" Miles exclaimed as he leaped out with a hook kick.

"Oh ho, good show boy," Naugus said as he tilted his head back to avoid the kick, but Miles wasn't aiming for him there. He kicked Naugus's staff right out his hand. Naugus was super pissed about that though. Miles grabbed the staff then rolled then jumped to the side fearing retaliation from behind. It did come in the form of fire narrowly missing him.

"Oh boy, really wish Sol was here," Miles gasped. Meanwhile Sonic was busy studying the emerald Miles had in his possession. Sonic came to a quick realization realizing the energy being given off wasn't just the emeralds.

"_Miles, we have to make sure Naugus does __**not**__ access this guy's powers!_" Sonic exclaimed his cool demeanor vanished.

"That was the general idea," Miles said performing a cartwheel flip to dodge a stream of flames coming at him.

"_But now I'm putting extra emphasis on it,_" Sonic said.

"Why, who's in there?" Miles asked glancing at the red emerald.

"_Let's just say he'd be an ultimate pain to fight_,"

Miles took his word for it as he continued moving around Naugus. Naugus grew more annoyed and placed his hand on the ground. Naugus then made the entire room an uneven surface making Miles trip and drop the staff. Miles reached for it but a stalagmite burst from the ground tossing the staff in the air. Naugus had used the wind to boost his elevation to catch it in midair. Naugus then waved his staff making crystalline burst from the ground in spikes toward Miles. Miles quickly pushed himself on his feet then leaped back almost falling with the surface of the room so uneven. Miles noticed more coming from right under his feet. Miles gasped as he jumped backward as a mess of the crystal like substance popped out. Miles was forced to keep jumping back again and again because wherever he landed more would pop out. Miles kept going till his back hits a wall. Miles suddenly noticed that the assault had halted for a moment, confused he looked to Naugus to see him no longer in the air.

"Where'd he-,"

"_Behind you!_" Sonic's warning came too late as Naugus's crab claw wrapped around Miles's throat from behind. Miles's would've gasped but his air was constricted so all that came out was a deep throat sound. Miles was shocked at how Naugus could get him with his back to the wall. Miles looked back to see Naugus's arm extended from the wall's shadow. Miles was then lifted off his feet as Naugus stepped out.

"Shadow Melding, is quite the killer technique, wouldn't you agree?" Naugus smirked as his grip tightened on Miles who was having hard time breathing. "Now for my prize," Naugus moved Miles's jacket end out of the way to look at the navy blue emerald. "Ah, you're so beautiful,"

"_Hey don't think this sweet talk is gonna get you anywhere, we still gotta do dinner and a movie_,"

"Now if only I could get the quickster to stop talking like the other one," Naugus groaned glancing at his red emerald. Miles was beginning to black out with the grip so tight around his throat. He could hardly breathe, let alone get oxygen for his body to move. Naugus reached for Miles's Chaos Emerald when suddenly electrical energy slammed into Naugus shocking him greatly, and bringing Miles back to the waking world quite nicely. Miles gained a surge of energy thanks to the wakeup call and Naugus's grip significantly weakened. Miles grabbed the wrist of the pincer holding him then jerked himself back to the floor. Miles then flipped Naugus forward onto his back harshly also ending the electrical attack. Miles fell to his hands and knees trying to catch his breath and coughing while doing it. Suddenly, someone grabbed him from around the waist and he was whisked away to the other side of the room pretty fast. Then he was placed back down. Miles looked up to see Cinos standing over him.

"Cinos?" Miles gasped.

"Who else could I be, Enerjak?"

"Glad to see you're back to normal," Miles said raising his torso up and getting a foot underneath him.

"Yeah, thanks for nearly giving me a concussion to help me see how bad Naugus was. I cannot believe he put a spell on me," Cinos said fuming. Cinos then saw Miles having trouble standing then offered a hand. Miles smirked then happily accepted helping Miles to his feet. "He beat you up pretty good,"

"Yeah, he's really strong, that elemental magic stuff is hard to get around," Miles grunted glaring at Naugus whom was also getting to his feet after the trip.

"Yeah, going at him head on with fist is pretty stupid though," Cinos said getting serious. "That won't work on him unless we soften him up a bit,"

"We?"

"Yeah, you and me because clearly you need magical back up and since your two girlfriends aren't here yet, I suppose I can help you out,"

"Why, even though he put a spell on you, why would you want to help?" Miles asked.

"Well I was partial conscious so I could hear your conversation with Naugus, wow what a selfish jerk!"

"So, shall we beat him like a rug?" Miles gestured forward.

"Let's!"

Miles still couldn't run properly on the terrain so Cinos did the favor of flattening the land toward Naugus since he couldn't do that for the whole area. Miles charged forward as Cinos used his rocket skates to keep up with him. Naugus had fully recovered and was now officially mad as he threw flames at both boys. Cinos quickly took point as he pushed his hand forward to release a discharge that fought through the flames. Miles jumped up to step on Cinos's shoulder and launch himself at Naugus. Miles curled up into a ball then released a strong spin attack. Naugus broke apart turning into air again and releasing his earlier struggle with Cinos. Miles quickly uncurled to touch back down where Naugus was.

"Look out!" Cinos called. Miles looked to see Cinos's attack still coming. Miles jerked his torso to the side avoiding it.

"_From below!_" Sonic warned. Not wanting to fall for the same trick twice Miles jumped back just as Naugus burst from the ground in another attempt to grab Miles. With the attempt failed he was left wide open as Cinos sent an electrical attack at him. Naugus quickly raised a piece of earth to use as a shield against the discharge. Naugus then also merged into the shadows provided by the thick darkness making Miles's spin dash miss and him smash through the boulder. Miles grunted as he tried to get his footing with such uneven terrain.

"This is gonna be the death of me if I can't run full out," Miles growled.

"Then let me worry about chasing him down and keeping him in one place. You worry about dodging, and when I get him good you deliver the heavy stuff,"

"Can't you just flatten out the terrain you are an Ixis Wizard too right?"

"Yeah…but it's really hard to learn one set of elementals let alone more than one. I was barely able to get that path to Naugus mostly flat,"

"Yeah I did almost trip, alright I can track Naugus when he Shadow Melds, and I'll be sure to warn you where he's coming from,"

"While I deal with him more up close and personal, and using my powers I may be able to stun him long enough for you to wail on him a little," Cinos and Miles sealed the deal with a handshake and smile. Then they both went to work. Cinos moved to the center of the room trying to track Naugus down himself instead of strictly relying on Miles.

"He's coming up from your front!" Miles warned. Cinos got ready to shoot until Naugus's voice came out.

"I'm disappointed in you Cinos," Naugus said as he appeared right in front of Cinos. "You held so much promise, why would you want to side with the enemy, this foul person,"

"Not gonna fall for that twice, once you start talking your spell starts taking effect," Cinos said seeing through Naugus and sending an electrical discharge at him.

"But you held promise, I knew no Ixis Wizard who could push the envelope like you have, being able to use the wind element to create electrical energy!" Naugus said raising a stalagmite and using it as a shield. He then quickly swung his staff around using his crystalline magic to launch said objects at Miles to keep him at bay.

"Yeah, I know, something that even you can't do," Cinos said swing a hook punch charged with electrical energy at Naugus who raised an earth wall again as a way of blocking it. Cinos recoiled hurting his hand greatly.

"My boy, who said anything about me not being able to," Naugus quickly moved around as he suddenly had an electrical discharge around his pincer and he pushed it forward to shoot at Cinos. Cinos was hit with it head on, but Cinos didn't falter.

"You fail to realize that even though you can do it to…" Cinos then took in the energy Naugus shot at him then threw his arms creating a great show of lights. "I'm better at it!" Cinos said bringing his hands down and an array of strings of electrical energy at Naugus. Naugus by reflex tried his wind element, stupidly forgetting that air is a good conductor for electricity. Naugus received the full shock of the attack yelling out in pain. When the attack was done he fell but he held himself up leaning on his staff and trying to overcome the shock it left him with.

This was Miles's chance, so as soon as the attack was done Miles quickly, yet carefully, moved to Naugus to deliver the finisher. Miles smirked knowing that Naugus was really in for it. Miles stopped in front of Naugus then slid his left foot knocking Naugus's staff from underneath him making him fall forward. Miles responded by giving him a fast uppercut, then a spinning back hand, he reached out to grab his beard then pulled him in to ram his elbow in Naugus's face carefully avoiding the horn. Miles swung his arm knocking the staff out Naugus's hand then performing a somersault kick into the wizard's jaw. Naugus fell back on his feet a bit but quickly tried to regain himself. He looked to his staff which Cinos now had in his possession. He looked to Miles who was smirking and he seemed to be ready to end this fight. Naugus growled then began melding with the shadows.

"Oh, no you don't," Miles said quickly diving at him and inadvertently being dragged into the shadow with Naugus. Cinos was surprised then began looking all around the room as he heard both combatants going at it. Cinos then looked at the Chaos Emerald blinking blankly at it. He took it off the staff then held it in his hands staring at it, and it felt good holding it. Suddenly his attention was grabbed when Naugus went plummeting to the floor from the ceiling, landing harshly on his stomach, and Miles stylishly lands in front of him. "And stay down!"

"Wow, nice work," Cinos complemented.

"Thanks you too, never coulda done it without you," Miles said smiling at him then noticed the Chaos Emerald in his hands.

"By the way Miles," Cinos began grabbing the other boy's attention. Miles looked at him curiously. "Who is this?" Cinos said raising the emerald.

"If you were my lit teacher she'd gone medieval on you for using who instead of what,"

"No, not the Chaos Emerald, I'm hearing a voice and since you fought so hard for it I wonder if you know who this is," Suddenly the emerald began glowing brightly in Cinos hands, and Miles recognized that glow because soon enough his emerald was doing the same. It was only moments later that Cinos eyes were now red, and Miles's emerald green. Cinos then suddenly crossed his arms frowning.

"Awe, come on, don't give me that look," Sonic said.

"Your carrier was nearly killed by a weakling like Naugus," Cinos's voice was much deeper and edgier. It carried a much more experienced and darker tone.

"Shadow, the kid's learning," Sonic defended. "Besides we stopped him before he could gain access to your psychotic Chaos Powers,"

"Wrong, you mean I kept him from gaining access from my powers, which wasn't easy considering he was getting closer as the battle continued,"

"Well lucky us,"

"Yes, lucky,"

"Glad you finally found your match made in heaven,"

Shadow huffed, "I may still not bear my great distaste in humans, but that does not mean I will enjoy being one. They are weak and fragile," Shadow said uncrossing his arms to look at his hands.

"Well not this kid anymore, he's your Carrier, which means he's just as strong as you are,"

Shadow huffed again, "The boy won't even be able to handle half of my abilities let alone touch my limits. I bet you still haven't taught all your skills to your carrier yet,"

"I uh…I'm getting pretty good results so far…"

"**Sonic, is there more I can do that you're not telling me?**" Miles asked upset.

"I want you to go at an easy pace, no need to rush it," Sonic said.

"Quite the opposite of your personality Sonic," Shadow with a snarky tone. Sonic hated when he took that tone with because he only does that with him.

"**Okay, who are you guys, and who are we, and what's going on, and why can't I control my body and-?"**

"My name," Shadow began to halt the boy's chatter. "Is Shadow The Hedgehog, the Ultimate Lifeform, and that's Sonic,"

"Wow, quite the dull introduction for me," Shadow ignored Sonic to converse with Cinos.

"You are my carrier, from this point on as long as you wield this emerald you will have all my powers, skills, strengths, and abilities. You shall use them wisely," Shadow said that last part sternly.

"Yeah, don't wanna accidently light up the sky and let the enemy know where we are,"

"**And they apparently want us to save the world since they can't with their bodies gone. We need to gather up more of their pals in order to face Mephiles the Dark head on in one final battle, so wanna join?**" Cinos was quiet for quite some time probably thinking it over.

"I already formed a connection with you, it was involuntary, but it means we're stuck together until deemed otherwise. I won't allow you to use my powers for your personal gains unless you also plan on using them for some good, now what is your answer boy?" Cinos was still quiet.

"**Why the heck would I refuse, this sounds like one heck of an adventure, count me in Shadow. My name is Cinos by the way,"**

Shadow nods, "Alright Cinos, I hope you're ready for a crash course, because I feel that that's what's going to happen soon,"

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked. Suddenly Blaze and Amy, in control of Andrea and Sol's bodies, burst from the doors of the ballroom and dash towards the two of them. They both stumbled greatly not realizing the uneven flooring but they made it over. "Ladies, what's wrong?

"Oh Sonic, and…Shadow, good to see you!" Amy said stopping in front of them.

"We have another ally?" Blaze asked. Shadow looks to her and nods. "That's great we could really use some help,"

"What's going on?" Sonic asked.

"**After we beat Geoffrey we rushed to rescue the royal family trapped in here. Thanks to them and Nicole the whole city heard everything Naugus had to say thanks to the microphones placed in the room**," Andrea explained.

"However, after that we came to the shocking realization the crystal wall protecting the city is falling and starting to crumble apart. There are simply too many monsters!" Amy exclaimed.

"**The city will easily be overrun and Nicole's shield would only delay the inevitable since she'd had to do everything she could to keep it up**," Sol added.

"And I can make a solid guess on what we have to do," Sonic began.

"It's best we go out there and fight them off until the forces here think of a plan to destroy them," Blaze said.

"Of course, I knew we'd have to fight those beasts,"

"Well there only here for the Chaos Emeralds, and right now we got three of the seven in here along with a Sol Emerald. It's understandable that those things must be going crazy with what they can gain here," Amy said.

"Then there isn't much since in stalling, it's best we be out there when the wall crumbles," Shadow said.

"Agreed, let's move quickly!" Blaze said.

"No, need allow me," Shadow raised his Chaos Emerald and suddenly all three panicked.

"Shadow, wait!"

"Chaos Control!" Shadow exclaimed. The emerald let out a bright light then all four of them vanished. Suddenly, all three of them reappeared outside of Mobotrobilis in front the city and from the lights from the city they could see the cracks very clearly.

"Shadow, you can't just do that!" Sonic exclaimed.

"What?" Shadow asked.

"You can't be so quick to access your powers in these bodies, you must remember that there not ours. It may feel natural to you, but you may not realize that you put tremendous stress on the body and not know it," Blaze explained.

"Tikal said we had to ease them into using our powers not throw them in headfirst, we don't wanna overwhelm them," Amy said.

"I understand your concerns, but I'm sure the boy's fine. He uses Ixis magic, similar to Chaos Powers, he should be able to bounce back quick enough. Besides, I must show him the extent of my power, without going overboard. I'm well aware of the danger, if any I think it would be Sonic who overdoes it. Tell me, I bet your carrier was flat out exhausted when you first took over,"

"That's…not what's important," Sonic said looking another direction. "Just be sure not to overdo it,"

"I won't, I will simply show the boy a few things I can do. I suggest you all stay in control as well with so many foes, we can't afford to mess up,"

"**Hey!" **All the humans save, Cinos said.

"Nothing personal, just don't want to be out here all day with these three screaming orders to you like back with Naugus,"

"Oh, you heard that?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, I did,"

"**Get ready the walls are breaking apart**!" Cinos quickly pointed out. All four human/mobians faced forward staring at the crystal wall as it began to crumble and shake. They all see pieces of it falling off and cracks getting bigger, and knew it would only be a matter of time before it breaks.

"It's pretty dark out here, Blaze think you can give us some light?" Sonic asked as the beast started pouring out the wall one by one, then two by two.

"With the grass so dry and lifeless the fire could easily burn to fast, so we must be careful," Blaze warned as she alight her hands with a strong fire. She touched the ground and created a fire wall that successfully surrounded them and kept the monsters trapped within it as well. "I shall maintain the flame!"

"Then we shall charge forward," Sonic said dashing off with Shadow right and his side and bringing up the rear is Amy. Energy quills burst from both as they curl up and smash their way through the numerous Dark Ferals that were gathering there. Sonic kept pressing the attack, but Shadow came to a stop. He glanced back to see the few that he and Sonic had missed were being taken care of by Amy's rapid hammer swinging. Deeming that she could handle herself Shadow decided to release some of his power. Shadow leaped high into the air bringing his arm across his body.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow exclaimed launching numerous spears of bright green chaos energy. The spears crashed into numerous creatures blowing them away. "Chaos Spear!" Shadow exclaimed again launching more at the crowd of monsters below taking out another portion of them. "Chaos…Spear!" This last Chaos Spear was greatly concentrated and was one focused shot that was hurled toward a mass of monsters that was beginning to overwhelm Sonic. Sonic gave a quick thumbs up and went back to smashing his way through the beast. "Cinos I control the power of Chaos," Shadow said as he came back down slamming his feet on the head of a Feral and squishing it against the ground. "My speed can easily match Sonic's," Shadow said and to prove his point he quickly moved in circle take out the beast that supposedly surrounded him. "However, I am also physically quite powerful," Shadow said, and he gave a prime example by catching a beast in mid lunge then holding it above his head then throwing it into another and destroying both with a Chaos Spear. Shadow performed a back slip swinging his leg back to catch a monster in the jaw and then punching forward destroying another beast in front of him.

"**Wow Shadow, you're really powerful!**"

"I'm glad you understand that, so don't go misusing my powers," Shadow said roughly throwing a monster off of his before he was taken down.

"**You keep telling me that, why?**"

"Because when humans have power they tend to squander it and become reckless. Sometimes when they have power they must let the world know instead of just simply coexisting. They must show they have power and that is the spark of war. I do not fully trust you with my power, but I have no choice," Shadow was battling hard now sensing that the horde of monster saw him as the biggest threat and they moved to take him down. Blaze made the flames on the side lash out them to give him a chance to take control of the fight before it gets out of hand.

"**That's kinda unfair, I mean, yeah I'm human, but we're not all the same…**"

"Yeah, well different humans tend to make the same mistakes of other humans, so I fail to see that," Shadow said throwing numerous Chaos Spears into the air and taking down numerous Dark Phoenixes that were attacking from the air. Suddenly the Dar Feral began to conform together creating numerous Giant Dark Ferals. Sonic leaped back from a claw swipe that nearly sliced him to pieces. Sonic landed down in a crouched position and began spinning and charging up energy. Shadow performed a backflip away from a claw swipe from the Giant Dark Feral he was fighting and glanced at Sonic. He blinked noticing something. "That's odd…"

"**Shadow look out!**" Shadow was taken by surprise by a Giant Feral that slammed it's giant paw on his body pinning him the ground.

"Damn!" Shadow barked angry that he let himself get put in such a position. Suddenly, a blue flash zoomed in and started rapidly moving around the beast then stopped right next to Shadow.

"Now, now, language," Sonic said smirking at him as he went to assist Amy who was taking on two beast at the same time. Shadow returned his attention back to beast that towered over him and saw it simply fall apart against the wind.

"**Wow, Sonic isn't too bad either**," Cinos commented. 

"That wasn't just Sonic's power," Shadow muttered removing the paw off him. He stood up and went back to battle.

Blaze used her flames on the sides to lash out at her targets accordingly as best she could since she had to stay in control of the flames however she quickly noticed that more monsters still kept coming and at this rate Sonic, Shadow, and Amy would have to step their game up. That in turn with exhaust their carriers even more which they could not afford. She sensed Sol growing weary from her just maintaining these flames since Sol herself couldn't control flames these big or wild. This had to end quickly.

"We gotta end this!" Amy exclaimed bringing her hammer down harshly on the head of the last Giant Dark Feral. Sonic covered her back with a sliding kick that knocked away numerous foes. Sonic got back up then curled up for a spin dash. The spin dash was oddly overpowered though as he simply smashed through numerous beast at one time.

"Alright, everyone get behind me!" Blaze called. All three hedgehogs/humans quickly scurried back Shadow throwing a few Chaos Spears to hold back the crowd before joining. They got behind Blaze as she stepped forward.

"Blaze?" Amy questioned.

"I'm going to set them all ablaze," She closed her eyes as she focused on her task. Her Sol emerald began floating in front of her face. "Now burn, Sol Blaze!" Suddenly, the flames that had been surrounding the battle came to life fully then converged on themselves. Not only that but it followed the trail of the burning beast as they tried to retreat. Sonic, Shadow, and Amy noticed the flames going crazy on the other side of the unshattered portion of the wall. The flames consumed Blaze completely as she let the fire grow bigger and bigger. The Hedgehogs had to move even farther back with the flames growing so big.

"Blaze I think you should bring it down now!" Sonic exclaimed. However his plea went unanswered as the flames were growing even crazier.

"We gotta save her!" Amy exclaimed.

"There's no way any of us could survive those flames," Shadow said. Shadow saw Sonic has on a thoughtful look. "I know that look, what are you planning?"

"The flames are too intense around her for her to control it," Sonic said.

"**She did say it would be easy to light a fire on this dry dead grass, but extremely difficult to keep it under control. We have to move the intense portion of the fire away from her in order to bring it down**,"

"Enough wind fuels the flames, while too much blows it out," Sonic moved into action quickly. "Sonic Wind!" Sonic curled into a ball gathering intense energy. As he was spinning the wind was being drawn into him. Amy was almost sucked in, but Shadow pulled her back and held her down. Shadow himself was having trouble standing his ground.

"This power…" Shadow muttered. Suddenly, the burst of wind shot out Sonic's spin form. The wind was so strong and powerful that when it was launched the flames blew out like candles on a birthday cake and were pushed back through the hole made by the monsters, and a great explosion sounded on the otherside. Sonic fell to the ground greatly exhausted from the feat. Amy ran over to check on him, while Shadow moved to check on Blaze.

"You alright?" Shadow asked walking over and taking a knee next to the downed girl.

"Yes…that wind really took me by surprise," Blaze said as she began to stand. Shadow helped her the rest of the way up.

"Yeah, you're not the only one," Shadow said. As they began walking over to Amy and Sonic. "Impressive Sonic, didn't know you had it in you,"

"You and me both," Sonic said a wheezing a bit. "I'd better quit while I'm ahead though,"

"Good idea, let's get you back inside so you can rest," Amy advised. Before they could make a move to do anything however they heard a giant noise. That noise was so strong it shook the ground underneath their feet. They all gasped as they suddenly realized it's not the sound but the object making it. It sounded like footsteps. Suddenly, a giant beast of monstrous proportions burst through the crystal wall clearly a bit charred from the flames. Though injured it still stomps toward them. The creature was as big as a mountain, and as wide a jet plane. The creature let out a monstrous roar as it stomped toward them again each stepping much him closer. All those in there had eyes as big as dinner plates, and it felt like their hearts were racing on another.

"Oh…my…Chaos…" Sonic muttered.

"Not worry you guys," came a voice from behind them. An image of Nicole appeared as the wall of the outer rim of the city stretched out to grab them and shield them. "This can be taken care of by us,"

"I have to see this," Amy said. Suddenly panels opened up from the ground and launched numerous missiles at the giant enemy. It growled angrily as it faltered greatly and began falling back. Missiles and other rockets and guns from numerous places began pounding away at the beast.

"That should only weaken it enough for us to finish it," Shadow said.

"You seriously wanna give it a try?" Blaze asked.

"I

"I'll make it easy for you by giving you the legs, think you can handle that?" Shadow said.

"Don't do me any favors,"

"**Don't…try anything…to great like last time Blaze…something like that again could kill me…**" Sol gasped from inside the Sol Emerald.

"**Same… to you…Sonic…**" Miles gasped as well exhausted from inside the emerald. Sonic and Blaze realized that they pushed them far too hard and didn't want to get too involved in the fight. She this left Amy and Shadow.

"Ready?" Shadow asked.

"Always," Amy said summoning her hammer. Shadow picked her up bridal style then quickly dash from Nicole's protection. Shadow skillfully dashed between each blast and missile between both parties. Shadow smirked as he actually hopped on top of a missile to take on a ride. Shadow rode on it till it impacted the beast's side. Shadow began skating up the sides of the beast avoiding the various explosions that land on it with skill that could rival Sonic's. Shadow made sharp cuts left and right as he moved up the body.

"Get ready, here's our chance," Shadow announced. Amy super charged her hammer to bring out her super Piko Piko Hammer. Shadow quickly threw Amy up into the beast's face. She quickly jerked her body slamming her hammer into the side of the beast's face making it jerk to the side. Then on her back swing she swung at Shadow in spin form which launched him into the creatures face. Amy fell down from the large height not believing she was hung out to dry. However, a burst of wind past by and suddenly she was in Sonic's arms. She smiled sweetly up at him as he just rolls his eyes. Sonic gently placed her down gently then turned back to the beast.

"Chaos…Blast!" shouted Shadow. Suddenly the monster's entire head imploded in a flash of red light. Then the entire creatures form went limp once the head was gone. Shadow quickly removed himself from the way as Blaze threw a few small fireballs at the beast in various places, mainly the legs. Luck would have it that these creatures are quite flammable. Sonic fan the flames by running around the beast to create a tornado that fanned the flames. Once the best was burnt up enough Sonic reversed the rotation to cancel out the tornado and blow out the flames by sucking out the oxygen. The mountain monster then fell forward and when it hit the ground it turned to ashes.

"Ashes to ashes, and uh monsters too?" Sonic commented. Sonic saw Shadow was breathing pretty heavily and was greatly exhausted.

"Wow, I've never had any idea what being exhausted was like till now," Shadow gasped.

"Come on, fights over for today, we'd better rest up for what comes next," Sonic said patting him on the shoulder. Shadow simply nods as he follows Sonic back into Mobotrobilis behind the girls. Once all four heroes enter the city a great applause is held for them as everyone in the city is partying and celebrating greatly. A giant banner was even hung saying "Thank you New Heroes!". "Now this is a reception!"

"**That's great and all, but…I'm exhausted and I didn't even do any fighting. I know once I take over…I'm gonna pass out…**" Miles muttered.

"**Agreed**!" the other three carriers said.

"Yes, Sonic the party is gonna have to wait…" Blaze sighed.

"Awe…" Sonic moaned. "Hey guys, is there any chance we could redo this whole thing but after we get some sleep?"


	11. Traveling Dangerous Roads

_**Wielders of Chaos part 11**_

"_**Traveling Dangerous Roads,"**_

"Cinos come on we don't have all day!" Miles called with his arms crossed and tapping his foot. Currently Miles, with Andrea and Sol, were waiting outside Cinos's house for him to come out. The heroes had quite the fight last night even though their mobian partners were the ones doing the fighting. However, because of the effects of the takeover all four of them were extremely exhausted when they finally gained control of their bodies. They all literally slept twenty hours each. Though Sonic still wanted that party, Miles reasoned that it was unnecessary and a distraction. "Cinos!"

"Coming geez!" Cinos called stepping out his home with a backpack. "Geez, I know you're partnered with Sonic, but surely you can show some patience. I wasn't exactly prepared to go anywhere,"

"Granted, but you had us waiting for a whole hour,"

"I wanted to make sure I had everything," Cinos protested readjusting his backpack.

"Oh excellent I caught you guys before you left," called a voice behind them. Everyone turned to see a mobian female run up to them. Looking at her, they could tell she's a chipmunk.

"My name is Sally Acorn," she introduced.

"Nice to see you again Sally," Andrea greeted. "You already know me and Sol, our _leader_ here is Miles, and the guy with the white hair is Cinos,"

"Sally Acorn…wait…does that mean you're apart of the Royal Family?" Miles asked curious.

"Yes, I'm the princess," Sally said.

"We helped her and her family out of the catacombs of the castle, and they helped us expose Naugus," Sol explained.

"Thank you again for your help," Sally said with a slight bow.

"No problem," Miles said.

"You sure things will be alright still Princess Sally?" Cinos asked.

"Yeah, once we leave New Mobotrobilis should be much safer," Miles said.

"Yeah, strategy speaking, this place doesn't make much sense to target. You don't have a Chaos Emerald anymore," Sol said gesturing to the Chaos Emerald around Cinos's neck.

"Yes, however, this now makes you all targets and I want to help out as best I can," Sally said.

"We couldn't impose," Miles said.

"_I'd take whatever help she can give us guys_," Blaze said.

"What can you do for us?" Sol asked bluntly. Sally handed her a type of handheld device. "What is it?"

"Hello you guys," greeted Nicole from inside the item.

"Nicole?" Andrea questioned.

"Yes, this is my handheld form. This way I can be of much better use and I can map out the best routes to take on your journey. Possible just about every concern you may have technology wise. I believe he calls it Casino Night Zone," Nicole explained.

"But what about the people here, don't they need you?" Miles asked.

"As you said, it wouldn't make much sense to attack this area again. I'd be of more use if I went with you all. The barrier may become weaker with me gone, but the city should function fine. Plus, the Freedom Fighters are now on active duty again which should make things easier,"

"Well can't argue with that logic, let's go!" Cinos exclaimed.

"You sure Princess Sally?" Miles asked again. She nods.

"The least we can do is assist in the journey ahead of you all…and Miles…" Sally said nervously messing with her hair. Miles stared at her to continue. "Tell Sonic…I said hello,"

"Hey can hear you," Miles said. Miles was silent for a moment then looked back the acorn princess. "He said, 'stay cute princess'," She chuckled a little half heatedly. "You okay?"

"Yes, thank you, you all should really get going," Sally said.

"Alright guys let's go," Sol said walking past the princess. Everyone followed her Miles gave a glance back at Sally.

"Sonic what was that?" Miles asked.

"_Yeah…me and Sally used to date…_" Miles almost fell over.

"You dated the Princess of the Acorn Family!" Miles exclaimed.

"Duh, everyone knew that Miles," Andrea said looking at him. "They were one of the power couples of the world. No one knows why they broke it off though,"

"Sonic didn't you want to say hi to her properly?" Miles asked.

"_Nah, it's best to keep moving forward in this situation,_" Sonic said somewhat glumly.

"So Nicole, where to next?" Sol asked as they moved toward the exit of the city. A holographic map projected out of the small handheld showing a wide view of the area.

"The next Chaos Emerald around is quite a ways away from us. If my memory banks serve me correct Mammoth Mongul had set up a city in that area, or at least a high functioning society. Security is supposedly tight, so tight that only those who are born inside it are actually allowed in," Nicole explained.

"Just get us there Nicole, leave the getting in part to us," Andrea said confidently.

"Besides, I'm positive Mogul wouldn't pass up a couple of Chaos Emeralds," Cinos said. They four heroes made it to the edge of the city then left out of the path that Nicole opened. They all gave a few goodbye waves to the people still inside and then they turned to the dark world in front of them. The ground was severely scared from the remains left of the battle. Corpses of a few monsters, metal pieces left from missiles, great big burnt patches, and some of the ashes of the smoldering beast. Cinos whistled at their handiwork.

"We're bad," Cinos said.

"_Let's stay focus shall we,_" Shadow said reminding his carrier of their situation.

"Okay Miles, let's go," Sol said walking over to the boy. She placed a hand on his shoulder then jumped into his arms. Miles was surprised by how straightforward she was. Last time he carried her she almost set him on fire. Miles didn't know but he also heard a sound coming from the girl.

"Are you purring?" Miles asked.

"W-what, ah, no of course not!" Sol exclaimed.

"I see someone took my ride," Andrea grumbled. Andrea turned to Cinos. "I just got used to Miles carrying me, I don't know about you…" Andrea said.

"Oh come on, besides Miles can't carry both of you the whole entire way. Casino Night Zone is not close, even with super speed. We gotta go through Green Hill, a jungle, and then a Labyrinth Zone," Cinos explained.

"Actually, the path Nicole has plotted for us just takes us through Green Hill, into Centrael City, and then we should arrive at Casino Night Zone," Sol said looking at the map Nicole projected.

"That's the long way…" Cinos groaned.

"I'd rather take the way a super computer A.I. plotted then you…no offense," Sol said. "Besides, why the heck would we wanna run through a labyrinth?"

"_It's actually quite a hot time_," Sonic said.

"_Whatever the case, let's simply go now before we attract more attention. Mephiles has certainly by now noticed us gaining numbers. It only gets harder from here on out_," Shadow said giving a tiresome speech.

"Y_eah, Shadow is right, we'd better go now. I have no doubt the monsters are only gonna get fiercer and much more dangerous_," Amy agreed.

"Andrea, let's go," Sol said gesturing to Cinos. Andrea sighed as she looked to Cinos. She walked over to him as he picked her up.

"Wow, you're so light, it feels like I'm carrying nothing!" Cinos exclaimed shocked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Andrea grumbled. "I don't like how shocked you were,"

"That's that Ultimate Lifefrom strength in work probably," Miles said. "Wish I had that…" Miles grumbled.

"_Hey, I do my best!_" Sonic exclaimed.

"Let's just go now," Sol groaned. Miles nods to the girl in his hands then turns to Cinos who nods also. Miles then shot off at super speed, and Cinos shot off right beind him. Cinos at first tried to keep pace on foot, but quickly realized that even with Shadow's quick footwork it was still second to Sonic's. Cinos then relied on his rocket skates that have gotten much more powerful since he acquired Shadow as a partner. Miles smirked as he flew past the scenery at jaw dropping speed. Miles and Cinos didn't have to go through The Great Forest this time around. They went around it this time in a flash of blue and red. "So Miles…" Sol suddenly spoke up. Miles was surprised to hear her speak, and so calmly at that. However, he supposed it made sense since she didn't seemed to awed about the speed.

"Yes?"

"How come…how come you didn't make such a big deal about knowing about my past?" she asked.

"Well you didn't want to talk about it, you have that right,"

"Yeah true…but it seemed like…like you really didn't care," Sol said.

"Not that I don't care…Just didn't really concern me. We need your help one way or another. You've definitely shown that we can trust you, so I don't see a point in pushing you to open up until you're ready," Miles glanced at her though. "But I am curious…"

"Well…oh take a left here," Sol instructed looking at the handheld. Miles complied weaving between dark landmarks that he could barely see. "I've done a few things I'm not too proud off now, and I abandoned the only family I had left…does that make me a bad person?"

"Well, since you bonded with Blaze, I think you do what's necessary. I think there is a real reason why we were able to create bonds with these emeralds. Not just dumb luck,"

"You think so?" Sol said.

"Positive," Miles said. Miles squints his eyes noticing something odd up ahead of him. Not sure what it was he decided to leap over whatever it was. Upon hovering over it he noticed that it was a dried up creek. Cinos shot over the stream using his rocket skates. Andrea let out a big whoot of excitement.

"Wow, how'd you see that?" Sol asked.

"Lucky guess," Miles said as he noticed the outline of a huge rock surface in his way. Miles grunted as he ran along the horizontal surface then kicked off back to the ground. "That took me by surprise," Sol giggled lightly. "First time I heard you laugh,"

"I don't make it a habit,"

"Why not?"

"Laughter can kill,"

"That's only if you laugh too much,"

"I don't wanna take any chances," Sol smirked proudly.

"Well then…" Miles trailed off.

"Hey what are you two talking about!" Cinos called out from next to the two. Miles and Sol glared at him and Andrea who were smirking at them.

"What don't you two go run into a tree," Miles said.

"In the middle of the desert," Sol added. Both Cinos and Andrea chuckle at their friends. Miles and Sol huffed as Miles sped up his pace to leave the two behind them. Miles noticed that Green Hill was beginning to get more intense. "So Miles, if you don't mind me asking…what's your life like," Miles glanced at her then frowned slightly.

"I'm not gonna lie, it's kinda pathetic," Miles said leaping up to take a higher path above Cinos and Andrea. Both of them protested but they were ignored. "Where to start…" Miles wondered as he leaped over a gap and ran up a wall.

"How about, your family?"

"Well, I'm an only child,"

"Lucky, I got a sister,"

"A Mom and Dad, and I knew both quite well," Miles said. Sol looked at Miles oddly. "Hey, nowadays sometimes some kids don't even know their parents," Sol nods understanding. "They worked for a military called G.U.N, and their were high ranked agents. Amoung the best of the best…"

"Were?" Sol asked.

"Yeah…they…were sent on a mission to find a way of beating Mephiles after Sonic failed…never got any feedback after that…so…" Miles said glumly going through a loop de loop.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know that," Sol said saddened.

"Ah, I fight through it ever now and then. It's just…when they died…it didn't make sense to me to hope anymore…which is why I'm confused as heck as to why I have a Chaos Emerald, let alone Sonic the hedgehog!"

"I know how you feel…" Sol said holding onto Miles tightly as he powered through a double loop de loop and then running on a corkscrew road. From behind them they could hear Andrea squeals of glee at the corkscrew bend. Miles and Sol chuckled as they continued their conversation. "I lost my parents at a real young age, and I never really got over it. My sister and I were raised by these assassins that killed for a living ya know. Hurt some people…"

"Oh, so that's where those skill come from?"

"Yeah…where did you learn to fight?"

"My parents work for one the world's most powerful militaries, it wasn't too hard to find a trainer, and a real good one," Miles said as he was dashing down a relatively straight narrow path toward another part of Green Hill. "Whatever happened to your sister, since I can add up that you left these assassin people,"

"I don't know, but she probably hates me for turning my back on her,"

"Did you?"

"Well, I keep telling myself it's more complicated than that,"

"Is it?"

"I'll be sure to let you know as soon as I figure it out," Sol said suddenly wrapping her arms around Miles hanging on to him tightly. Miles said nothing as he continued his fast and quick pace. Green Hill Zone was pretty big and spacious. They were pretty sure that if they actually had light they would still be somewhat lost.

"We should be coming to the end of Green Hill very soon," Nicole informed them. Miles looked back to Cinos and Andrea.

"We should be getting closer to the end, and then we'll head into Central City," Miles informed them.

"Monster!" Sol suddenly informed. Miles turned back around then gasped. It was another one of those gigantic Dark Titans. They towered at about 60 meters in the air from head to toe. The length of it's body was half of that, but add it's arm length it's actually double the height. It has one glowing sphere as it's eye, and purple streaks were all over it's body.

"Looks, like you guys will have to cut that date short," Andrea said to Miles and Sol.

"That's what I call speed dating,"

"Oh shut up and fight!" Both Miles and Sol yelled. The Dark Titan opened it's mouth to bellow out a big roar. As it's mouth is opened they can see the inside is completely purple. As it roared suddenly purple lightning struck the beast making it become lit with a purple fire. This purple fire quickly spread all over it's body. This considerably lit up the area for several meters. Upon the area being lit up they all could see that the area they were in was pretty closed off. A few solid rock mounts surrounded them and could possibly provide cover if need be. Miles gently sat Sol on her feet, as Andrea leaped out of Cinos's arms.

"Purple fire, guessing it's isn't regular fire," Miles said looking at Sol. She shook her head.

"No, that isn't, I don't think I would be able to gain control of it," she said.

"Then what do we do, we can't just run up and spit on it!" Cinos said.

"Well better think of something here it comes!" Andrea exclaimed. The creature raised it's arm then brought it down. All four heroes quickly separated taking on the beast at different angles.

"_Cinos, take aim!_" Shadow instructed. Cinos stopped then shot out a burst of electricity at the beast. The electricity slammed into the beast's chest. The Dark Titan seemed unaffected as it opened it's mouth to spew out molten rock. Cinos paniced jumping back, but was unprepared for the object to explode in his face throwing him into a rock wall. He broke into it as he peeled off. "_Cinos, don't just shoot, I said take aim not shoot_,"

"Sorry…" Cinos muttered.

The Dark Titan saw Miles circling around him. Miles jumped onto the very top of one rock formation then leaped away just as the beast slammed it's fist down on the structure breaking it apart. Miles landed on another structure higher up to get a better vantage point. Andrea ran up to a piece of the rubble then took a batter swinging stance. Andrea pulled back then swung her hammer into the boulder sending it toward the beast. The Titan was unaffected by the fruitless attack then coughed up more molten boulders at Andrea. Andrea pulled back her hammer then swung hard to knock the molten rock right back at the beast. The rocks hit the beast in the face exploding instantly. The Titan recoiled but swung it's arm sweeping the ground. Sol ran over to Andrea then grabbed the girl. She used fire to shoot herself high into the air above the powerful sweep that decimated the area. While in the air Sol shot fireballs at him, but it failed to do any real damage.

"Damn it!" Sol yelled at her attacks being useless. Miles leaped up at the beast from the side then curled into a ball to unleash a Chaos Spin attack. The beast turned sharply swinging it's arm and sending Miles flying through the air. Miles's body flew through a rock wall then he harshly slammed into the ground forming a thick dust cloud. "Miles!"

"Go help him, we'll cover you," Cinos said joining them. Sol nodded running over to the downed Miles. Andrea's eyes suddenly began glowing as she waved her hands. Suddenly, the beast began swing around wildly around himself. Cinos saw that somehow he saw the four of them flying through the air dodging ever blow the creature dished out. He shot molten rock out it's mouth in an attempt to hit them. It even fired a powerful laser beam straight into the air, now where near the carriers. Cinos looked at Andrea confused at how focused she was. .

"What'd you do?" Cinos asked.

"I have the power to create illusions. This thing is strong but it's not too bright. I really need to focus so your gonna have to think for both of us," Andrea said ending her part of the conversation.

"_Cinos, stop wasting time. The beast is strong, but not without weaknesses. Find it,"_ Shadow instructed.

"The whole thing is on fire!" Cinos exclaimed.

"_Then start with places that isn't on fire,_" Shadow suggested. Cinos noted the comment then began to look the beast up and down. True enough the whole beast was on fire, and just about every attack launched his way was put down. Cinos then remembered where Miles was aiming his previous attack. Cinos stared up at the eye of the beast. "_That's it_," Shadow congratulated. "_Now take it out!"_

"On it!" Cinos said. "Try a focus your illusions to keep him steadier," Cinos told Andrea. Cinos didn't wait for a response as he charged off toward the beast. The beast was wasting energy with all it movements, but it was still very dangerous. It waved it's arm throwing at flames. Cinos leaped above the flames then drew his arm back. "Here goes, Chaos Spear!" Cinos yelled wildly swinging his arm. The energy was…less then focused and the bolts that were released weren't properly charged or focused. The spears went flying in random directions, one of them toward Andrea. She noticed it at the last second and dived out of the way. "Oops…"

"_That was beyond the opposite of good Cinos. You're not focusing, and now the distraction you had is gone. Look out!_" Cinos was terrified as the beast's swung it's arm sending out flames. Cinos was too shocked to move. Miles intervened quickly charging in to tackle Cinos, but receiving a heavy blow for it. Cinos inadvertently activated Shadow's Natural Ability of Chaos Control as he warped away with Miles. Cinos was still cringing as he reappeared a safe distance from the beast. _"Cut that out you're fine_," Cinos stopped to see he was indeed. He noticed Andrea and ran over to see if she was okay, however he got an earful.

"What the hell Cinos, you almost hit me!" Andrea yelled at him.

"_Guys, stay focused, the big guy knows where you are now,_" Amy warned. Cinos and Andrea looked to see the eye of the beast glowing brighter and brighter. Cinos acted quickly grabbing Andrea and pulling her underneath his arm then warped away again just as a powerful laser slammed into the ground tearing everything apart. Cinos reappeared over where Sol was helping Miles regain himself.

"You okay Miles?" Andrea asked worried. Miles suffered a heavy blow. A mild burn, some serious bruises, and he looked to be in great pain.

"Yeah…we need a plan," Miles said.

"Obviously you have to aim for the eye," came a voice. Everyone looked at each other and quickly noted the voice was none of them. They all look out farther on the very edge of the light that someone is hiding behind a rock wall. He said shocked that he said that out loud as he had his hand over his mouth.

"Who is-?" Cinos was cut off as the roar of the Titan behind them caught their attention. The beast swung his arm nailing all four heroes. All of them went flying through the air. Sol and Andrea went sliding against the ground, Cinos's Chaos Emerald flashed a bright red then suddenly he up righted himself to land on his feet, and all the while Miles slammed into the rock wall the person was hiding behind. Miles grunted in pain.

"Wow, that looked like that hurt," the person said. He sounded like a male from the tone of his voice, around the same age as Miles from the sound of the voice. Miles leaned against the rock wall as he stood back up. "You're gonna get hurt even worse if you keep this up ya know,"

"Just stay back…" Miles said getting to his feet. Miles glanced to see Cinos must have annoyed Shadow to where he simply took control and fought the beast himself. He was doing a splendid job from how he was moving and weaving. He was even using Cinos's powers better then Cinos himself. Miles felt bad for how Shadow basically demorilized him, and wrote him off without giving him a chance. "Sonic, do you want to-,"

"_No,"_ Sonic said sternly. "_You know what you're doing, you just gotta wait for your chance. There's no need for me to step in,_" From the tone of his voice he also felt bad for Cinos, and clearly did not approve of Shadow's actions.

"Hey kid, you alright?" asked the boy still behind the rock wall but he stuck his head out more to look at Miles. Miles saw that he was indeed a kid around his age, black hair with bangs drapped over his forhead, and white toned skin.

"Never better," Miles muttered running back into the fight. Sol and Andrea saw him charge toward the and went to back him up. "Alright ladies let's work together,"

"Sol, do you think you can turn some of those flames against him?" Andrea asked.

"The fire is to foreign and complex for me, Blaze might be able to…" Sol said sadly.

"Then let's make due," Miles said. "Alright, Sol, I want you to light me on fire,"

"What!" both girls exclaimed.

"The energy quills should give me enough protection from your flames, and your flames should give me some protection against that monster's flames,"

"That sounds dangerous and risky," Andrea said.

"But necessary, come on,"

"I'd rather we exhaust our other option first," Sol said.

"Then how about this, when I get close to the monster throw up a wall of fire for me. I'll charge through that. It might give me a window of protection, and it'll be faster to execute,"

"Hey look out!" cried the boy from behind. Miles and the girls turned to see the monster bring it's hand down trying to crush them with it's palm. Miles's eyes grew sharp in an instant. He grabbed both girls by the arm then warped away in the blink of an eye. Miles reappeared farther away from the actual attack, which was actually the best falling to the knee from Shadow's heavy attacks. Shadow slid over them taking a quick cleansing breath.

"There, I soften it up for you four, take it down and let's go," Shadow griped as he allowed Cinos control. Cinos however didn't seem to have the will to fight anymore. "_Come on, don't tell me you still can't do it after I weakened it_,"

"Why didn't you just finish it off yourself? Save yourself the embarrassment of being partnered with me," Cinos gripped looking to the ground. Clearly Shadow critically struck Cinos's ego, and pride as a fighter.

"I've got it," Miles said running off toward the beast. The beast noticed Miles then shot out a single laser shot from it's eye. Miles jumped to the side to land on a rock wall then kicked to curl up and perform a Chaos Spin attack right into the side of the monster's head. Miles rapidly spun around as he came out the other side to shake off the flames. Miles struck the ground panting as smoke was coming from his body. "Whew, that was hot…"

"Are you okay?" Sol asked.

"Yeah, I'll be…ugh…" Miles then collapsed to the ground. Sol, Andrea, and Cinos freak as they rushed to their fallen friend.

"_You know, my body could have taken that type of heat for a moment, therefore so could you. This could've been avoided,"_ Shadow sighed.

"_Shadow, that is quite enough, we will discuss your actions later, but right now Miles needs to see a medic,_" Blaze said sternly. Sol looked over to see the boy was still there watching them.

"Hey kid!" Sol called over to him. The boy recognized the stern tone in her voice and stood front and center. Thanks to the light of the still burning monster Sol could observe him. He looked a bit shorter then Miles, but a couple of inches. He has a black button up shirt on, with khaki shorts, and black and white converse. He's orientation looked cocasion. "Who are you?"

"Uh, my name's R-Rob," he said quickly.

"Well Rob, we need to get ourselves and our friend some medical attention. Are we near Central City?" Rob nods vigorously.

"Yeah, you're real close, it's just over the wooden bridge over there," he said quickly.

"Take us," she said as she gestured for Cinos to carry Miles. Cinos did with no arguments or hesitation as placed Miles over his shoulder.

"This way," Rob instructed as they quickly moved away from the battlefield. Unbeknownst to them though, the beast has more than one life…


	12. The Warrior of the Mind

_**The Wielders of Chaos part 12**_

"_**Warriors of the Mind,"**_

"_That was just a little uncool Shadow_," Sonic scolded the red emerald floating in front of him. Currently the four emeralds are residing on a windowsill in a white room. The location of the room was in a medical ward of sorts. They had the works of the sanitized rooms, cold air, and completely white walls and floors. Not a lot of detail to go by. The Ward had three levels, and it was located in east of Central City. Currently the Carriers were inside one of the rooms checking on Miles who was still unconscious after the fight with the Giant Titan monster. The emeralds wanted to have some time to themselves so they were outside the room.

"_How so because I decided to take action_?" Shadow responded.

"_They have to learn on their own Shadow_,"

"_He is still but a child_, _he doesn't fully comprehend the responsibility he bears. However, that doesn't mean that I have to be ignorant of it just because he is_,"

"_He's not ignorant of it_,"

"_Please, Sonic, at the rate they were going they were not gonna win_,"

"_Yes they could_," Blaze jumped in at this point in protest. "_They've proven themselves fully capable_,"

"_If Blaze trusts them, than I see no reason why we shouldn't_," Amy said in agreement.

"_Yet look where we are_," Shadow said coldly. The Navy Blue Emerald glowed a little bit brighter showing Sonic's displeasure of hearing this. "_Trusting them, got us here," _

"_No one said…. they weren't gonna get hurt_," Sonic said sadly.

"_But we don't have to put them through that, if we can help it_," Shadow said.

"_Wow…Shadow…you're coddling him_," Amy said. Her voice gave off that she was smirking inside that emerald. Both Sonic and Blaze's emerald brighten as if a light bulb went off in their heads. The emeralds didn't have eyes but it was obvious to see them staring at the red emerald. Shadow was unresponsive. "_I mean….you don't have to be embarrassed about-,"_

"_I'm not coddling him_," Shadow spoke up cutting her off. "_This fight_ _isn't his, it's not even the other's fight, this is our fight. I'm ashamed that we have to come to_ _such a level to where we bring in those who shouldn't be in this_," Everyone could feel the regret and shame suddenly just pour off Sonic in waves. "_Don't be so self centered_," Shadow spoke up quickly before Sonic could begin uttering his apologies of his past failure. "_We are all to blame just as you are, maybe even more so. If you were with us maybe we could've won, or maybe we would've all died anyway, who knows and who cares. The fact is we must protect these kids, that is our top priority_,"

"_Wow, I never took you as one so compassionate Shadow," _Blaze said stunned.

"_Death has a funny way of changing people_,"

"_I understand what you mean Shadow, we must protect them as best we can, but you gotta remember. There may even be a time we can't lend them our power, they may have to defend themselves_," Amy said.

"_I will not allow that, and I will prevent any chance of putting Cinos in that position_,"

"_You can't stop everything from happening to them…_" Sonic said sadly. It was easy to tell he was staring at the open door in the medical ward. He was happy that the doctors said he only suffered minimal damage and would wake up soon. Good thing surrounded by all these other people who were much worse off. It made Sonic feel sick seeing all this pain, and even worse his carrier is part of it. "_We just need to make the right choices, and guide them. Sometimes, we may need to rely on their strength too…"_

"Hey guys," Andrea said stepping out of the room and greeting the talking emeralds. She herself sported bandages on her cheeks, forehead, and her arm. The Doctors told her she had minor burns. Good thing they were placed on the more quiet part of the ward. The most activity was going on farthing down, so no one had time to pay attention to a crazy mobian girl talking to emeralds. "We're about to find a place to stay for a little while, until we recover a bit and Miles wakes up," Andrea reached out to grab her Emerald Green Chaos Emerald. She put it around her neck just as the other carriers came out sporting bandages themselves. Sol grabbed her Sol Emerald, and Cinos half heartedly took his Red Chaos Emerald.

"Sonic you coming?" Sol asked the emerald.

"_Nah, I'll wait for Miles to wake up_," the hedgehog said. At that Sonic made the emerald float in the air and go into Miles's room.

"What were you guys talking about out here?" Sol asked. Sol could actually sense some kind of resolve in Blaze she hadn't felt before which is why she questioned her.

"_Just about putting things in perspective,"_ she responded. Sol raised an eyebrow at the vague response. However, she decided to let it be that seeing as she seemed to have other things on her mind.

"We'd better get to a hotel," Sol said.

"I think I saw one on our way here that's pretty close, and I should have some stashed cash to pay for us," Andrea said reaching into her pocket to pull out a small thick wallet.

"_**Now, no need for that," **_Nicole spoke up. Sol removed the handheld from his pocket. "_**This is on the Royal Family, Sally instructed me to put any funds on the Royal Family account. Another way of saying thank you,**_"

"Cool…" Andrea sighed. "So, should we?"

"Yeah, we'll let him rest a while," Sol said leading the group out of the medical ward. They moved to exit with Cinos closing the door to Miles's room. They went down the stairs to the bottom level then exited out the building to hit the city streets. Central City was a nice calm little hub city. It had tall buildings, but it wasn't like they were bearing down on them. A mere glance of the eye and you could see the tallest building in the city. However, it was packed quite tightly together with few alleyways and few cars out on the road since everything was in walking distance of most things. The group walked down the street that was lit brightly with the streets lamps on every corner, clearly built to run 24 hours a day. However, only every other street light was on, probably to preserve power and energy. The hotel that Andrea saw was merely five blocks down the street. They briskly walk wanting to get out of the night air and feeling the chill lick at their burns. They entered the hotel and then approached the check out desk.

"Two rooms please," Sol said handing over Nicole in handheld form. The receptionist was confused until Nicole wireless transferred the funds needed for the rooms. Once the lady at the desk saw that the payment was complete she smiled.

"Oh, well here you go," She said handing Sol back the handheld. Sol gave a half smile then took the card keys from the woman's hands then walked away with Cinos and Andrea behind her.

"I'm sure Miles will be fine," Andrea said already knowing where Sol's mind was.

"Yeah, let's hope Andy," she said sighing. She didn't sound too optimistic.

"I'm guessing when Miles gets on his feet one room will be for us," Cinos asked extending his hand for one of the keys. Sol nods then hands over one of the card keys. Cinos looked at the card to see what number he has. "Room 302,"

"And we're 309," Sol said.

"You didn't get rooms right next to each other?"

"I got what I got,"

"Well…" Cinos said sensing the aggression in her voice. He was in much a talking mood either. Andrea felt conflicted between both her teammates. Sure she was down about the way that battle went and that Miles got hurt, but she was aware that Miles was tough and that he's gonna be fine. However, between Cinos's problems with Shadow, and Sol's pessimistic nature, it was hard to be the cheerful one. She just opted to sighing and hoping that Sol would at least open up a bit and when they got to their room.

* * *

"Oh…" moaned out Miles's voice. This brought Sonic to attention as he began hovering over to Miles's pillow. Miles let out another groan as he brought a hand to his face. "Gosh…what hit me…?"

"_A gigantic monster of incredible proportions…and it was on fire," _Sonic said.

"Oh yeah, how could I forget…" Miles moaned. Being unconscious wasn't as cool as they made it looked in the movies. Miles sighed as he reached over to pick up the Navy Blue Emerald. He began sitting up as he stretched his aching back.

"_I don't think you should be moving yet,"_ Sonic advised as Miles clicked the Emerald onto his belt as he threw his legs over the side of the bed.

"You know the others are lost without me," Miles said as he slid off the bed and onto his feet. He grunted a bit in pain still stretching and cracking his joints loose. Miles messaged his shoulders and then began rolling them. He found his shoes and jacket on a chair in the room, so he quickly put both on. "It hurts, but not so much that I gotta stay here," Miles said removing cords and such from his arm. "Don't think I'll be in a fight anytime soon," Miles opened the door than stepped out to hear that the hospital was dead quiet.

"_You were out for a pretty long time, I think it's almost midnight," _Sonic answered his unvoiced question. "_The others aren't too far, I'm sure they went at that hotel Andrea had pointed out on our way here,"_

"Hopefully I can get a proper night sleep there,"

"_You could rest in the hospital bed, that's what you should do Miles,"_

"Since when have you been so keen on my well being?"

"_Since I have to protect you, and since you're hurt right now because I failed to do that too…"_

"Sonic?" Miles questioned as he stopping walking and turned down toward his belt. "Is something wrong?"

"…_I'm just tired of letting…people down…_"

"Well if you weren't so sturdy, I doubt I'd be here, so thanks for that,"

"_That's just residual ring energy from all those magic rings I use," _

"Well it works in protecting us, don't beat yourself up Sonic," Miles said as he approached the front door of the Hospital Ward. The staff wasn't around at all, probably resting from the hustle and bustle of earlier today unbeknownst to Miles. Miles stepped onto the streets of Central City looking around.

"_Best we just walk," _Miles huffed at the idea now, but supposed Sonic was right. Miles jammed his hands in his pockets and began walking. The city was awfully deserted and crazy quiet. Which is understandable, since day-night wasn't so bad, but night-night is when things really got scary. People are sometimes affected by it in random ways, but Miles felt he was protected since he has a powerful source of light with him. However, the quietness didn't sit well with Miles, since every sound heard instantly withdrew his attention. Miles quickened his pace a bit and the hotel was in sight. He sighed with relief knowing he was close. However, something suddenly grabbed his attention like a parade marching down the street. He turned his head and saw some kid in one of the few alleyways to his left. He was running, and he was in a serious hurry. Miles saw that the boy was running toward him, and when Sonic looked back behind the boy he saw what looked like some punk motorcycle gang.

"Can't even go for a walk five blocks…" Miles groaned.

"_Maybe he'll be okay…_" Sonic muttered. Miles was shocked to hear Sonic say such a thing. He expected himself to complain then for Sonic to encourage him to help, then for him to complain again. Then Sonic encourages Miles, and then begrudgingly Miles enters the fight.

"Sonic, what is wrong with you?" Miles asked the hedgehog shocked.

"_I have to protect you, you have to be priority number one,"_

"Well until you get your priorities straight, I'm gonna see if I can help this kid," Miles said turning toward the boy the was running toward him. The boy screeched to a halt in shock.

"Oh, great," he gasped as he turned his head back at the ones chasing him and then back to Miles. "More of you tonight…"

"Actually, I'm on your side here," Miles said. The boy tilted his head at Miles.

"Wait…you couldn't be….the same kid that fought that monster?"

"Huh how did-," Miles cut himself off upon observing the boy better in the dim light of the city. He placed the voice and the face together to remember this was indeed the one who had saw that fight. "Hey, you're that kid,"

"Thanks, since that's totally my name," the kid groaned.

"Sorry, never caught it, what is it?"

"Rob, but how are you standing, that thing clobbered you pretty good," Rob asked tilting his head at Miles.

"I'm tougher than I look," Miles suddenly flashed past Rob to deck one of Rob's pursuers. There are four in all as the one Miles hit tumbled back down the steps of the alleyway and onto the other three. "What's with these guys?"

"This happens when night-night comes. People start acting crazy and attacking anything that moves,"

"They seem a bit focused on you though, and you seem alright,"

"Can't tell ya why, but I think you should worry more about yourself though," Miles glanced back at the boy while keeping his enemies in the corner of his eyes. "You can't help anyone in your condition, you may be standing but I doubt you can fight,"

"Well at least let me help,"

"I don't need it, just go about wherever you were going," Rob said waving the boy away. Miles looked a bit surprised at the shorter boy behind him. "You have friends that are probably worried about you, worry about yourself and them,"

"Who's to say you're not a friend too," Rob looked shocked at that statement. "Besides, I was conscious long enough to know you helped get me to that hospital quick enough. Any longer and I might've been even worse off," Miles faced attention to stare at the punks in front of him. "Now, why are you guys harassing my friend here?"

"He has it!" barked one of them man.

"He's gifted, he shouldn't be gifted!" cried the other.

"I wanna be special too!" cried the last of the man. Miles turned his head in Rob's direction.

"I have no idea what they're talking about, people have the tendency to be even weirder at night-night," Rob explained. Sonic hummed inside the emerald in thought.

"_Miles, shine the emerald on those guys,"_ Sonic instructed. Miles only glanced at the emerald before the man charged at him and Rob. Miles pushed Rob back as he shifted his body out of the way of a dive.

"Why?" Miles winced as his fast twitch muscles were also extremely sore. Sore enough for one of the other man to hit him in the side cause him to grunt in pain as fell against the brick wall of the alley. Miles moaned as he was trying to get his bearings just as the man raised the bar again. Miles noticed him at the last second then turned sharply with the pole hitting the wall loudly and he opened his jacket to reveal the emerald. The bright blue emerald let out a powerful light that blinded all the man. When the light subsided the man collapsed onto the ground, and out of their bodies came…creatures, that oddly enough didn't appear to be one of Mephiles's. "What are these things?" Miles cried. All three creatures turned their attention on Miles anger showing in their stare.

The creatures were unlike Mephiles's because their body didn't seem to be made partly of earth, but pure dark energy. It let out a low purple hum of energy, horns jetted out all along it's back, it has three gigantic fingers, red eyes, a tail, and radiated this strange energy that energized Miles in an odd way.

"_These are Deep Nightmares!_" Sonic exclaimed more shocked then surprised. "_These things should exist anymore, they should all be back in the center of the planet, not here!"_

"Where did these things come from?" Miles said backing off from the creatures a bit. "And more importantly how do I beat them?"

"_I usually pound away at them until they just vanish,"_

That's nothing special so Miles shook of his shock and jumped into the fray of battle. He slammed his fist against the first one sending it back a bit. The alley was narrow so the creatures couldn't all rush him at once, which was a great thing since Miles wasn't 100% at the moment. Miles kept his distance striking then backing off quickly before another could get in a shot. Miles pulled back then curled up into a bright blue ball as hedgehog quills made of Chaos energy enveloped his body. He then shot forward blasting through the tree monsters and sending them all flying out of the alley. Miles came to a stop on the street as he saw the monsters were stunned. Miles decided to finish them off as he performed a tug jump then slammed his feet onto one of the monster's chest. It shattered to pieces underneath his feet. One of the two monsters charged toward Miles and swung a strong downward hammer punch. Miles jumped back narrowly avoiding the attack as the creature's fist smashed the concrete to pieces. However, Miles had to gather himself a moment, but the Deep Nightmare took advantage of it as it back handed him with the same fist. Miles hit the concrete hard with his already injured body. Miles managed to land on his stomach though as he glared up at the creatures before him.

However, suddenly, one of the creatures was suddenly consumed in a bath of flames, and the other was destroyed into nothingness with bright yellow spears of energy. Miles was shocked by the monsters suddenly being destroyed as such. Miles got his answer as three figures were rushing over to him.

"Oh, hey guys," Miles said getting to a knee. Cinos was the first to get to Miles as he screeched to a halt thanks to his rocket shoes. Cinos reached down to help Miles to his feet.

"Can't you walk down the street without getting jumped?" Cinos asked him with a hint of humor and relief in his voice.

"Guess not,"

"Why didn't you just rest in the hospital?" Sol asked showing clear hostility.

"I thought it would be a quiet uneventful walk,"

"We gave that up as soon as we got these emeralds, Mephiles's creatures will always be on us!"

"Wouldn't you feel less worried if I was with you guys instead of at a hospital you guys couldn't stay at?"

"That's not the point!" Andrea exclaimed jumping in. "Point is that was stupid and you know how dangerous night-night is, and you were injured. It was a bad decision!"

"Sorry, won't happen again," Miles said. Both girls glare at Miles.

"Maybe we should get off the streets now, ya know, before something worse shows up," Cinos said making his presence known. Suddenly, all three of them heard a loud boom sound. It sounded like it was close, coming toward them. The booming got louder, as if it was getting closer. Then it was clear to notice that they were indeed footsteps. Suddenly a whole pack of Deep Nightmares came dashing down the street making all the carriers present flinch. However, instead of attacking them, the pack merely surrounded them from all sides save the one they had came. They're way of escape completely cut off, save the straight forward path, but they all had a feeling that way was the last option they wanted to take. Suddenly the creature stomping toward them made itself known. A giant creature with a giant mallet, a dark blue tint of skin, it stood at least 15' tall, a single purple eyeball in it's head, horns all over it's head and shoulder area, and finally long powerful arms with a tail.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here…but these things aren't Mephiles's…are they…?" Andrea asked.

"No, their a bit stronger," Miles stated. "Sonic what are these things?"

"_Sonic sealed them away in the center of the planet, they shouldn't be here!"_ Amy exclaimed.

"_These creatures aren't on my world, so I would have to say this is a first for me_," Blaze admitted.

"_They're from a being known as Dark Gaia, but it exist only in the Earth's core, it shouldn't be stable enough to make monsters let alone, be around at all_," Sonic said. The giant being known simply as Titan slammed it hammer down gaining everyone's attention. The creatures all grouped around the carriers getting ready for a fight.

"How do we beat them?" Cinos asked.

"_Hit em hard!_" Amy exclaimed. Andrea summoned her Chaos Piko Piko Hammer and held it ready.

"That should be easy then," Andrea said charging toward the Titan. Sol turned to Cinos.

"Leave the big guy to Andy and I, you take care of Miles, and get out of here," Sol instructed then turned to back up Andrea before Cinos could utter a word.

"We can't just leave em," Miles said.

"I know, but you're hurt,"

"And you're mostly healed unlike the rest of us. We really need you here Cinos,"

"I know…but…" Cinos looked down regretfully. "I don't think I can handle this anymore, maybe, I am over my head,"

"What, who gave you that idea?" Miles asked. Miles leaned off of Cinos to stand on his own and get a better look at his surroundings.

"…I just…well…thought that if I can't handle this power…then maybe I shouldn't have it…"

"That's crazy talk!" Miles exclaimed. "We need you here, and it was no coincidence you formed a bond with Shadow. You can handle this, you just can't let the power overwhelm you," Miles turned toward the awaiting monsters, and then glanced over to Sol and Andrea. It seemed the Deep Nightmares were gonna hang back and enjoy the show, that and the Titan was pretty uncaring of who it hit be it friend or foe. The Titan was gonna cause the most damage so it should be taken out first and foremost. "Let's go," Miles said grabbed Cinos arm and leading him toward where the girls were fighting Titan.

The Titan was growing angry as it reeled back it's hammer over it's head then brought it down. Andrea came up fast coming in the opposite direction. Both mallets clashed letting out intense sparks of energy. Andrea, however, could hold off the creature's immense strength for long as she began to waver. She tried to come up with an illusion but she couldn't stretch his focus far enough and the stress of the situation was getting to her. Sol came in spinning like a top with fire surrounding her whole body as she slammed into the creature's chest forcing it back and off Andrea. A Deep Nightmare tried to pick off Andrea while she tried to catch her breath, but a blue and red flash decimated the creature before it could hit her. She gasped as she watched both flashes charged toward the Titan. The two past Sol in a flash making her hair and jacket blow with the wind as she almost lost her footing. Titan cringed as two spin attacks slammed into it's chest the force of a wrecking ball. This threw Titan off his feet and to the ground harshly. Miles and Cinos kicked off the creature on contact and were sliding back on their feet while leaning forward with their arms behind them to gain leverage to stop.

"Alright!" they both exclaimed giving each other high fives and then a thumbs up.

"Alright, let's fry him now!" Sol said as she began spinning like a top and flames began to dance around her body. Soon her entire body was consumed with the blaze of fire as it was spinning. Sol was unable to get the flames any bigger because it already took extreme focus to get the flames like this. Blaze could easily, but still had much to learn. So, Miles and Cinos helped out by running around her in a circle fanning the flames and speeding her up a bit. Both boys backed off when the flames got much bigger as Cinos got Andrea to safety. Sol was able to direct the flames toward Titan as best she could despite having little control. Control, the Titan sensed she lacked. While the fire tornado consumed the lesser Nightmare, Titan, would not go out so easily. The giant beat swung it's hammer hold back the tremendous amount of pressure being pushed against it. The Titan was able to muscle the tornado however simply because Sol was not in full control of it. Titan batted away the flames then slammed it's hammer into the ground throwing Sol into the air. Sol was about to hit the ground harshly but Miles was quick in coming in to catch her bridal style. The force however made him fall over as well just as he caught her.

"Guys look out!" Cinos exclaimed. Both Miles and Sol look up to see Titan tower over them with hammer raised. Both of them panic especially with Miles not any condition or position to move at the moment. Cinos charged toward them two as fast as he could but noticed he wouldn't be in time. "Chaos…Control!" In a sudden flash of light from Cinos's Chaos Emerald Cinos was gone, and in the next second so were Miles and Sol. Andrea gasped as she saw the mallet go down.

"OH NO!" Andrea yelled about to go crazy on Titan.

"Andrea we're alright!" called Miles's voice. She turned around to see Cinos standing with his hands on both Miles and Sol's shoulders.

"But that was close," Sol gasped.

"_Why is it so hard to take this thing down!"_ Shadow growled in annoyance not liking a repeat of their earlier battle. "_Sonic, you've battle these creatures before, some directions would be helpful,"_

"_Well granted, I did have super strength when I took these things on, which was a big help in the long run of things. I don't really know how to fight them like this,"_ Sonic admitted.

"_We must beat this creature somehow_," Blaze said. Again out of nowhere the a laser beam hit the creature in the eye making it growl in pain. It took a couple of steps back as it brought a hand to it's eye. The Carriers were surprised by the sudden attack as they all turn to see Rob with a smoking glove.

"Rob?" Miles questioned. Rob ran up to them and turned to Miles ignoring all present.

"Look, I saw that you weren't gonna be smart and run off like you should've when I did. So I decided to help you, you crazy kid!" Rob exclaimed jabbing a finger in Miles's chest. Miles was surprised by this. "Alright Makela, do your thing already!"

Suddenly a girl fell from the sky landing in front of the Titan. She suddenly raised her hand and it was glowing and suddenly, the Titan's hammer began glowing the same odd energy. She yanked her arm back also pulling out the mallet from the Titan's hand. The Titan removed it's hand to look and see where it's hammer went. The girl swung her arms like she was swinging an imaginary baseball bat. The mallet mimicked her as it slammed into the Titan's face making it fall back a bit, then she swung the imaginary bat upwards and the mallet copied launching the Titan into the air, then she raised her hands then brought them down quickly slamming the mallet down on top of the beast and slamming it into the ground. The Titan began to try and get back up after such a brutal attack.

Cinos moved in dashing forward as he leaped forward grabbing two of the horns. He twisted his body sharply as he actually managed to throw the Titan when his momentum was factored in. Titan went sliding against the ground and rolled into a building. Cinos raised his arm then allowed it to bathe in the discharge of his next attack.

"Chaos Spear!" he said waving his arm. Yellow spears of Chaos Energy went flying toward Titan and exploded on contact destroying the beast completely. Cinos touched down on the ground smirking. "Yes!"

"_Nice job," _Shadow commented. Cinos smirked at the black hedgehog's compliment. _"Then again that guy was as big as a house, so it would've been embarrassing if you did miss," _Cinos's smirk quickly fell into a frown as displeasure as he rolled his eyes.

"Man that was close," Andrea said sighing. She looked over to Rob who was still staring down Miles pretty hard. "Thanks for the rescue, I guess we aren't really in top form yet…"

"Yeah you guys really weren't, pretty lousy fighting back there," Rob said folding his arms. Andrea glared at him not wanting him to be so blunt.

"But thanks for the save anyway," Miles said to Rob as he grabbed Rob's hand to shake it. Miles raised an eyebrow feeling the material of Rob's gloved hands. Miles also turned back to the girl walking over to them. "And thanks to you to…miss…" the girl giggled slightly as she shyly approached Miles. Miles noticed that the girl stood taller than him by a good 3 inches.

"No miss needed, my name is Mikaela nice to meet you, mr…."

"No mister required. My name is Miles, this is Andrea, Sol, and last my bud Cinos," Miles introduced everyone. "Judging from how Rob called you out here I'm guessing you guys know each other," Mikaela nods.

"Yeah, this time period is kinda new to me, so I'm glad he's been around to help," Mikaela said.

"Time period?" Andrea asked curiously.

"Oh well I'm from the Future," Mikaela said.

"Then…who's powers do you have?" Cinos asked.

"Well I am the Carrier of Silver the Hedgehog hero of the future," she said with a small bow as a show of respect. The girl has brown hair she wears in a high ponytail, hazel colored eyes and soft white skinned complexion that she didn't come across as pale. Her attire is turquoise cargo pants with a loose silver white shirt with a blue cat silhouette in the center. She has these strange boots on that's mostly covered by her pants. She wears black fingerless gloves with strange glowing bracelets around them. Finally, she wears a cobalt blue cat collar necklace with a heart shaped tag around her neck. She reached into her pants pocket to pull out a white Sol Emerald.

"_Hey guys!_" cheered voice from inside.

"_Silver, long time no see," _Sonic stated.

"We should probably get out of here you guys," Rob said breaking up the small reunion.

"Why?" Miles asked. Suddenly lights began beaming down on them from helicopters and in no time official looking vehicles began surrounding them cutting off their exits. Soldiers with uniforms rushed onto the scene pointing their weapons at them.

A soldier who stood more out of place among the others held up a blow horn, "All of you stay where you are and put your hands in the air, you have 10 seconds to comply, 1-," All the kids in question shot their hands into the air.

"That's why," Rob sighed.


	13. It's Hard Being the Hero

_**The Wielders of Chaos part 13**_

"_**It's Hard Being the Good Guy…"**_

"Sooo…we are the good guys…right?" Cinos asked with a bit of hesistation. After waking up from his deep slumber, and as his voice floated through the air the others also began to awaken. They all looked pretty tired, and even though their stay in the room they're in wasn't comfortable at least…no they all gave up beds to be there and were quite miff.

"Obviously Cinos," Andrea groaned.

"Well I had to ask…since I really don't feel it," Cinos said as glanced around the cell they're in. The Carriers sat in a small cell room with laser grid bars. The cell was basic, with two benches on each side of the cell.

"So…we're in jail?" Mikaela asked.

"No, this is just a holding cell," Miles huffed as he sat his arms crossed, clearly displeased with their situation.

"At least they were kind enough to treat the injuries you guys got,"

"Whoopie," Miles said dryly as he spun his finger in a circle in mock celebration.

"Yeah, I'm with him," Sol said as she leaned forward resting her head on her hand. "Excuse us if we don't leap for joy,"

"I don't understand why they put me in here with you guys," Rob groaned in clear displeasure.

"You were there, they needed to neutralize the situation, and taking everybody present was the best way to do that," Miles explained. Everyone looked at Miles curiously. "Standard procedure,"

"Wow, you seem to know a lot about these guys," Sol said raising an eyebrow. Miles stood up from his seat then walked over to the laser bars.

"I should since I've spent my whole life around this stuff," Miles muttered as he looked through the bars and trying to see anyone. "Hey, this is pretty pointless holding us here, so how about someone actually come talk to us!" Cinos raised an eyebrow at Miles. Clearly the boy was quite irritated for simply being in this place. Cinos looked at everyone else to notice that he wasn't the only one to note Miles's foul mood. Cinos being the brave and none bashful guy he is asked first.

"So Miles, I'm guessing you've got quite a history with this place,"

"…Yeah, AND I'M PRETTY ANNOYED I'M BEING HELD HERE!" Miles yelled out.

"Alright, no need to yell kid," a soldier's voice had come. The soldier was dressed in a military uniform, with a hard hat, goggles, a black vest with white letters G.U.N. on it, black gloves, a laser rifle on his hip, combat boots, and blue undergarments underneath it all. "The commander would like to speak to you all," he said pressing a button on the side of the cell.

"Well that's good you came and got us, pretty soon we were gonna bust out ourselves," Andrea said stretching her aching back.

"Well we wanted to allow you all some rest before we got started with business," the soldier responded. Miles huffed at this. The soldier seemed a bit uncomfortable as he simply about faced and began walking down the hall. The carriers having no other choice but to follow decided to do just that. They were lead down stairs then turned left into another corridor with the halls looking plain and boring. Gray metal walls and a metallic floor were all through the hall and the only thing seen. The Carriers grew tired of the dull scenery until the soldier brought them through a thick armored plated door. The door opened up from the center and revealed an end to the monotony. The room was on a platform, a giant computer in the center of the room, the platform stood on some strange substance, and on the other side was another entrance. The platform was filled with staff and such for the G.U.N army. The soldier led the carriers until a man that seemed to stand out among all the others with his official looking uniform. The man turned showing the medals he wears, his slightly dark skin tone, white, and different colored eyes. Everyone seemed taken aback with that, except the soldier and Miles.

"Glad to see you're all okay," the man said. The man's eyes fell on Miles who folded his arms and glared in another direction. The man's stern gaze softens ever so slightly before becoming stern. He looked to the soldier who saluted then walked away. Then the man returned his attention back to Miles. "Hello Miles,"

"Commander Tower," Miles greeted halfway looking at the man. The rest of the carriers stared between both the commander and Miles surprised.

"You two know each other?" Andrea asked surprised just now noticing the tension in the air.

"Yeah…kinda" Miles said.

"Kinda?" the commander seemed hurt that Miles said that. "I practically helped raised you boy,"

"Well we weren't asked to come here to talk about us were we?" Miles asked already seemingly done with the conversation. Commander Tower looked at the boy sternly not appreciating the tone or the word usage.

"Well…yes that much is true," the man said regaining himself in the blink of an eye practiced for many years. "My name is Commander Tower, you all may call me commander. I request a favor of you all,"

"Straight to the point I see," Sol said. " But, what is this place anyway?"

"Strange you haven't heard of us…" Commander Tower muttered. "We are the Global United Nations, or G.U.N for short. We are a military that is global and work to bring peace and any other emergency that needs our attention,"

"Okay, and I'm guessing this is the main hub right here?"

"That is correct,"

"Now, you said you want a favor, from us?" Sol asked suspiciously. She acted this way simply because Miles seemed to not like this guy.

"A simple thing, really, I need you all to relinquish your emeralds to us," Commander Tower said.

"WHAT!" all the carriers exclaimed.

"I'm still confused why I'm being lumped in with these guys," Rob said clearly upset with the situation now.

"Well then be quiet," Cinos said looking at Rob and then he faced to commander. "Who do you think you are?"

"The Commander of the Global United Nations, otherwise known as G.U.N we are one of the most powerful military forces in the world, and I run it, as I previously stated. That's who I think I am,"

"But, you can't just take our emeralds," Sol said.

"I could have when we brought you in, but I wanted this to be less stressful for me. Which is why I didn't take them away while you all were sleeping, I'm allowing this to be a civil transaction,"

"There isn't going to be anything civil about this," Andrea said summoning her Chaos Piko Piko hammer and holding it upside down and bringing it to the ground. "You're going to have to take them from us,"

"_Well said Andy,"_ Amy commented.

"Kids, this matter is bigger then what you all know,"

"We know, the world is plunged into a never ending darkness, monsters roam the world, the planet is dying without a sun, and pretty soon every living being is gonna die from lack of vegetation and such. Yeah, we pretty much get the idea," Miles said.

"Yes, but do you understand that things are getting worse ever since you left Soleana Miles,"

Miles looked surprised, "How did you-," Miles cut himself off shaking his head as he already had a general idea to the answer of his unasked question.

"_I see he still has his ways of doing stuff like that,_" Sonic said.

"Commander, no disrespect," Mikaela gently began. "But these emeralds chose us, not the other way around. We've created a bond with the warriors inside of them. We can't just let that go," she said. "Plus, I just got a handle on these powers,"

"_Yeah, that part was not easy,_" Silver commented in agreement with his carrier.

"Kids, you must understand. This battle is getting bigger, you won't just be fighting monsters anymore, you're gonna be fighting people and among other things,"

"Explain to us what's going on Commander," Andrea said. "We'll be the judge if we can handle it or not,"

Commander Tower sighed as he held his hands behind his back, "Well…I guess kids want what they want…alright here's the deal," Commander Tower began. "I inform you all about some knowledge we have, then you hand over your emeralds so we will be able to pull together a plan of attack on Mephiles,"

"_The Commander seems to really have a stick up his butt nowadays," _Shadow commented. Cinos let a small chuckles come out. The commander looked at him curiously but Cinos shook his head. "Sorry, okay let's have it,"

"Well," Commander Tower said leading them toward the computer. He pressed a button giving an aerial visual of the planet. "Your assumption about the planet dying isn't far off. This is the latest of the satellites we've launched. We don't often get them up until they are taken down, so we take great care with everything that we see,"

"W-What is that?" Sol asked. On camera currently a castle like structure stood on a floating piece of land in the air. The structure looked to be seeping out pure dark energy through every window, crack, or entry way in the palace. The palace stood tall based on the gothicarchitect. It has spiked walls, peaked towers that shot toward the sky, and the color seemed lost with the darkness flowing out of it. Below the floating ground even more dark energy was pouring out endlessly with no form of stopping or slowing down. The worst part was the amount of monsters and creatures all just gathered around that area. There was no speck of land that was seeable beyond all the monsters for miles!

"That, my dear, is Mephiles's palace,"

"_Huh, he's done a bit of redecorating since I trashed the place," _Sonic commented.

"Wow, look at all that darkness just seeping out of it…" Mikaela said with great shock.

"That's all Mephiles's power?" Cinos asked becoming very worried.

"_He's gotten much stronger over this short year…_" Shadow muttered.

"Now you know what you are trying to fight. You all are fighting a grown man's war. This isn't a battle for kids,"

"Well we didn't choose to get involved in this," Miles said. "There's a lot we don't have a choice about," Miles said glaring at Commander Tower. "But ya know what, we deal with it, just like you're going to have to. We're fighting not because we have to but because we want to at this point,"

"Yeah, we could just take these powers and go about our way. I mean, the guys inside the emeralds couldn't really stop us. We could misuse their powers for whatever we see fit," Andrea said recalling the battle in Apotos.

"She's right, we have a choice now. We didn't when we received our specific emerald, but now that we've matured we can choose," Sol agreed.

"I respect your resolve kids, but this," Commander Tower began pointing at the dark energy pouring out of Mephiles's palace. "Is beyond even the warriors you hold in those emeralds. A being known as Dark Gaia was defeated by Sonic, and now Mephiles is using that thing's power and adding it to his own. He's slowly becoming much stronger and his grip on the world is becoming that much tighter. The dark influence that Dark Gaia energy has on people has spiraled out of control, and in more recent cases creating chaos. This energy is threatening to tear apart the very fabric of our galaxy, maybe even beyond that,"

"Well we need more guys, no biggie," Andrea said.

"Yeah, you do realize that this isn't all of us," Mikaela said.

"Yeah, we've got about fourteen or fifteen other allies we need to get before we can take on Mephiles," Cinos said.

"I admit, we are nowhere near ready to take on Mephiles now, but one day we will be," Sol said.

"So I must simply sit back and watch as you all go about these dangerous actions while I am forced to keep my forces in reserve. My hands are tied, and the last thing I need is trying to keep you all held down,"

"Then don't," Miles said. "I'm sure if you knew I left Soleana, then you must've heard of all the other things we did. The Destructix, Kodos, liberated New Mobotroblis, defeated Ixis Naugus, and recently beat back some monsters here in Central City. We rock is basically what I'm saying,"

"So hard," Cinos added.

"So get with us, or get out of our way," Sol said simply. Commander Tower stared them all down intently then sighed.

"I can't convince you all to give up your emeralds willingly can I?"

"Nope," Mikaela stated.

"And force would simply be a waste of time and energy, for you anyway," Andrea said slinging her hammer on her shoulder.

"I don't feel comfortable doing this,"

"Listen commander," Miles began his voice actually lacking hostility toward the man. "How about this?" He began. "If we prove ourselves to you and that we are capable of handling this burden and gain a few more allies, you let us keep our emeralds. And when we eventually all gather back here, I want us in on the invasion plan you probably have cooking up already,"

"Miles-" Commander Tower began.

"I know what's at stake, and I know what's already happened. I…I just don't have the time to waste anymore, we need to head over to Mogul's Casino Night Place and get his Chaos Emerald,"

"So you plan on going there after you're through here?"

"That's the plan," Andrea said. Commander Tower thought for a moment.

"Okay, we have a deal, you may keep your emeralds," The carriers sighed with relief. "However, my conditions are you are no longer disorganized. You are now ranked members of G.U.N., barley above rookie level, except Miles who barley completed that portion of the training,"

"Say what?" Andrea asked.

"We work for you now, ha, I don't think so," Sol said.

"You don't have a choice, if I accept your conditions, you must accept mine,"

"Well you wanna know what I think about your conditions-," Sol as cut as Miles placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Alright, deal,"

"Deal?" everyone else questioned, even Rob.

"I don't get it, I was thinking you and the commander couldn't see eye to eye," Rob said with curiosity.

"Well I know a good deal when I see one. He was being generous. We get a roof over our heads, an actual headquarters of sorts. Sure we can't come and go as we please, but we definitely gain more from this," Miles explained to his crew.

"Well if you're sure…I'm with you," Sol said.

"What about you guys?" Miles asked the rest of his friends.

"Sure," Andrea groaned.

"Why not," Mikaela said.

"I've always wanted to be a secret agent," Cinos mused.

"Alright, then now for a little training,"

"Training?" the carriers questioned.

* * *

"Yes, training," Commander Tower said smirking as he looked down below at the Carriers with Rob at his side observing down below as the Carriers were all moving around dodging laser blast.

"I hate this guy already," Mikaela said as she glides through the air weaving through laser fire.

"He's probably just seeing how good we are," Andreasaid smashing her hammer down one of G.U.N's robot drones. She quickly spun around to send a flying robot sentry with a cannon away toward Cinos. Cinos smashed the robot to pieces with a powerful jab, and then sharply turned to wave his arm to throw Chaos Spears at random enemies. Sol surrounded herself in fire then began smashing the robots to pieces until one of the droids shot out a strange substance that was able to entangle her halting her to a stop. Mikaela quickly came in grabbing the robot with her psychokinesis crushing it by clenching her fist and then tossed it away. She then used his psychokinesis to rip off the gel that binds Sol.

"Thanks, that power of yours is really handy," Sol said.

"Thank you, I just think Silver is the best," Mikaela said.

"Commander, you got anything tougher for us to fight, I'm fallen asleep here," Miles called performing a handstand on a battle droid's head.

"Alright," Commander Tower mused as he seemed pretty impressed so far.

"Sir we have an incoming message," came a soldier from behind the commander who had just entered the room.

"Put em on hold this is important," the commander said sternly ignoring any protest the soldier said otherwise. "Send in Big Foot and Flying Dog,"

"Yes sir!" As the Carriers were wrapping up with the robots they heard a big slam from the side of the room. They all turned shocked to see two powerful looking mechs.

"Big Foot and Flying Dog," Miles muttered. Miles then looked his group over then the mechs. "Leave the one with legs, to Andrea, and I. The rest of you take down the flying one,"

"Do the three of us really need to take focus on one robot?" Sol asked.

"Humor me," Miles said charging toward the mech with legs. Andrea shrugged her shoulders as she followed after Miles. Sol sighed as she gestured for her crew to come with her.

"Miles seems…bossier than usual," Cinos commented skating underneath the Flying Dog barley dodging the tackle it attempted.

"This guy obviously has history with Miles," Mikaela said flying after the mech to try and pin it down with her powers.

"I'm sure he has his reasons," Sol said slamming into the side with a fire spin attack. The mech rocketed out of control for only a moment until it about faced and fired an intense burst of energy out of the cannon on it's front.

"Watch it!" Mikaela said leaping in front the blast and creating a psychic shield. However, the shield was not strong enough to hold back the full force of the attack as she went flying back. Cinos was kind enough to catch her as she went careening to the ground. "Whoa, thanks,"

"_Ya gotta hold strong when you create shields Mikaela,"_ Silver advised. "_Also that thing is better at flying then you are, so trying to outmaneuver it isn't a good idea,"_

"Well what do you suggest?" Mikaela asked as Cinos sat her down on her feet then charged back toward the Flying Dog. Cinos shot into the air then performed a spin attack right into the glass making the mech rock violently as it skid against the ground, but it soon rose into the air again.

"_Pin it down long enough for Cinos, and Sol to get a lick on it,"_

"Right," Mikaela said psychic energy flowing around her fist and then her entire body. She flew off to support her friends just as Sol had came flying towards her getting caught in the explosion of a missile.

"_This thing wasn't always this tough to beat,"_ Shadow said.

"Apparently it is now," Cinos said quickly skating between each missile with great carefulness and skill. Cinos spun around while skating then threw his outside arm to release a couple of Chaos Spears. Flying Dog however, was quick as it shot into the air dodging the spears. "What the-," Cinos was caught off as the blast of the laser threw him to the metallic flooring.

Flying Dog was then met with a Sol who was thrown using Mikaela's psychokinesis. She hit the mech hard rocking it greatly. After she bounced off though she was vulnerable which made Flying Dog open it's hatch to launch numerous missiles at Sol. This was expected by Mikaela who quickly flew in between them and caught most of the missiles, since she wasn't skilled enough to grab them all. Since she missed a few she made the missiles she had in her possession collide on each other while she faded out a bit as she was caught in the explosion. Makaela floated back down next to Sol who stared since Mikaela didn't have on scratch.

"What was that?"

"Oh, I have some ghost powers too, I can become intangible," Mikaela smirked. Sol nods then turns to see how Miles and Andrea are doing. They seemed more accustomed to working together then she with Cinos and Mikaela. Nothing against them, but she didn't know how to work with them. Miles circled around Big Foot in ball form and then slammed into the glass of the mech after Andrea slammed her hammer on the side of the mech.

"We have to work together to take this thing down," Sol said. Suddenly, Cinos comes flying by trying to come to a stop with his skates trying to cut off his momentum.

"Yeah, just how are we gonna beat this thing. I'm fast enough to catch it and strong enough to finish it off, but I can't fly," Cinos stated.

"I can hover for a little while," Sol admitted.

"I can't fly as well as it can," Mikaela added.

"Then we're sunk…" Cinos groaned.

"_Don't give up just yet, this is only training,"_ Blaze said.

"_Right, you all have the right idea, you just gotta put some effort into it,"_ Shadow said.

"Right…" Mikaela began think about what Silver told her earlier. "Okay, I got it!"

Mikaela flew into the air gesturing for Sol to follow, and Cinos to follow from the ground and get ready. Mikaela flew over the Flying Dog, as Sol met it head on. Flying Dog used it's superior flight capabilities to get around Sol easily, but before it could respond Mikaela used her telekinetic powers to force it still then shoved her arms out to force it onto the floor. Cinos smiled seeing the idea. He leaped forward then punched the glass breaking it, and then going into a spin attack right through the mech. Flying Dog spark for a moment then imploded on the spot.

"_Alright, way to go guys!"_ Silver cheered.

"Close one," Mikaela sighed as she floats down to the ground joined by Sol and a Cinos who screeched to a halt. They all looked to see Miles and Andrea battling Big Foot still. Big Foot has a machine gun on the front instead of a cannon like Flying Dog's. Miles moved swiftly then vaulted over the mech then falling into a somersault. Andrea threw her hammer straight into the gun smashing it inward. In quick blue flash Miles appeared on the other side of Big Foot, only a gaping hole in it to prove his achievement actually happened. Big Foot fell over then also imploded. "Yay us!"

"Nice work," Andrea said to Miles.

"Thanks," Miles responded.

"That was some leadership there," Cinos commented smirking at Miles.

"Leader?"

"Yeah, you got all bossy, but in a good way though,"

"Uh, I don't think I'm the type,"

"Come on, don't be modest. You figured out how we could take these guys down before we even realized what was going on,"

"I was just familiar with the robots, that's all. They did seem tougher though," Miles mused.

"That's because they've had quite a few upgrades," Commander Tower said over the intercom. He then turned to look over his shoulder to converse with someone, probably another soldier. His eyebrows raised in shock then he turns to the Carrier below looking at them in thought.

"Uh oh," they all said.

* * *

"You want us on a mission already?" Mikaela groaned.

"We just started working for you," Cinos said.

"And you've already proven that you're much more capable and beneficial as field agents. Since I can tell Agent Shadow is already in your midst and I'd expect he'd want to hear this," Tower said. Cinos's emerald glowed and his eyes changed as did his disposition.

"Commander Tower, what's going on?" Shadow asked. Tower seemed shocked. "Yeah, we can take over their bodies if need be,"

"Well that's interesting…anyway, the mission details are this. I have an agent in the field in Empire City," Miles's eyes instantly lit up upon hearing that. "Ya see, chaos is starting to build to unimaginable levels, and our agent is instructed not to use deadly force. He found some form of assistance in what you all would call a 'Carrier'," Everyone else's attention was now grabbed. "However, this carrier has lost control of himself, and the warrior inside the emerald doesn't seem to able to control him. Our agent reports Dark Gaia energy has overwhelmed him, and I need you all to try and calm things down and assist your fellow agent,"

The carriers looked at each other. "Well, Miles is already on board since that's the place he's been wanting to go to since day one," Andrea said.

"Hey!"

"Nicole where is Empire City?" Sol asked since she wasn't even a native of this world she didn't know.

"**It's pretty far, and it would be the exact opposite direction we would need to go in order to get to Mogul**,"

"Then that settles it, we can't go, that trip is too far out of the way,"

"_**But another Carrier is there, and let's face facts, we could use a few more numbers**_," Cinos said.

"Another carrier could be handy for when we face Mogul," Miles added.

"But we got Mikaela," Andrea said.

"Thanks, but I don't think I'd be enough to tip the scales in our favor. In my time Mogul is still pretty powerful," Mikaela explained.

"And since he's a carrier, he is our responsibility…technically speaking…" Miles said scratching the back of his head.

"Who is the agent?" Shadow asked Tower.

"Your old friend, E123-Omega,"

"We're going," Shadow said to the others almost daring anyone to argue. No one did. Once that was settled Shadow went back inside his emerald.

"Well that settles that," Miles said with just an edge of excitement. "Empire City here we come!"

"Ya now guys, once we're done in Empire City we could just teleport back here with Chaos Control," Cinos added.

"We don't trust you with that," everyone said making Cinos huff crossing his arms.

"_Ya know…we should start working on that too Miles,_" Sonic said.

"_Yeah, Mikaela could use some practice too,"_ Silver agreed.

"In what?" the carriers of Sonic and Silver asked.

"_The power of Chaos Control of course,"_ they both said.

"We can use Chaos Control?" Miles asked surprised.

"_Yeah, I think it's best I show you how and then let Shadow take it from there. Like I know how to do it, but I'm not as good at it as Shadow with it_," Silver said.

"_More like cheap…_" Sonic muttered.

"Hold on one second!" Sol exclaimed halting anything from going any further and from the carriers leaving. "We have Mongul to deal with, remember? Your world isn't the only one dying here, and I don't plan on wasting time. Mogul is closer so we should handle him now,"

"Uh, but Shadow…kinda said we shouldn't," Miles said. He may be appointed leader by default, but only if Shadow's okay with that.

"Then how about we split up?" Andrea suggested. Everyone looked to her curious of the idea. "I mean, Sol is right, why not go at Mogul now when he's this close. We don't have the time to mess around here, our days are literally numbered,"

"Well how do you suggest we do this?" Miles asked.

"Simple, leave Mogul to Sol and I," Andrea said confidently with Sol at her side. All those present looked at her like she had lost a leg and an arm.

"Andy…that's simple insanity," Cinos said. "Mogul isn't just a master of Ixis Magics, but the very creator! Plus, with a Chaos Emerald he's near godlike,"

"Making that a fight you guys probably won't win," Miles said.

"Then you two should hurry up then," Mikaelas said joining Sol and Andrea.

"W-w-what," both boys asked shocked. Seeing the female dominance of the team taking it's full affect.

"Listen, you guys so concerned about this then you should try and solve that problem then hurry back. I mean Miles obviously wants to go to this Empire City, and Shadow demands to see his old friend. So leave it to us girls to get the job done,"

"Wow, really," Rob muttered.

"Yeah, and you're coming with us," Andrea said poking the slightly taller boy with her tail.

"W-why?" Rob demanded.

"Because we may need a little technological assistance, because for an immortal Mogul really knows how to stay with the times," Mikaela said. Rob looked uninterested. "I'll owe you one," Rob sighed and at that Mikaela smiled. "I'll take that as a yes, so don't worry you guys we'll be okay,"

"I'm so sorry," Cinos said patting Rob on the shoulder.

"Me too, just try and be strong," Miles added grabbing Rob's other shoulder.

"HEY!" the girls exclaimed.

"Well if you're all decided then," Commander Tower finally interrupted making his presence known. "Get going, all of you,"

"Well just me and my boy Miles on a mission. I feel a bromance in the making," Cinos said wrapping his arm around Miles's neck while smirking.

"Oh, whoopee," Miles said with lack of any emotion, but he also smirked back. "But let's actually try and put that on hold for now,"

"_Well Shadow, us working together, how's that sound to you?" _Sonic asked the other hedgehog.

"_Nauseating," _Shadow said.

"_Yep, sounds like a good time to me_,"

"_And you guys just leave Mogul to us_," Silver said lacking some of the excitement he's known for.

"_Yeah, don't worry about that big over grown elephant,"_ Amy added.

"Alright, everyone, good luck," Commander Tower said with a salute. All the Carriers and Rob all mimicked the gesture each radiating different personalities.

"Now that the boring stuff is out of the way, let's go!" Miles exclaimedrushing off with his friend right behind him.


	14. A New Friend and Foe

_**The Wielders of Chaos part 14**_

"_**A New Friend, and Foe,"**_

"So, here we are, on our way to Empire City…on foot," Cinos said as he is skating alongside Miles as they dash through another dark foreboding area at supersonic speed. "Why couldn't we just take a coptor like the others?"

"Well because they aren't as fast as us, and besides we'll get there faster on foot then in a helicopter," Miles responded. As the two went flying past dying farmlands. The once tall proud grass of the land is leaning over and withering away into the wind, with any other plant or crop there. The field rang with death and desperation as all forms of greenery were nonexistent. They noticed the barns were abandoned and no one was around. Empire City was on the Southwest coast of the continent. An easy jog for the world's fastest humans, Cinos however wasn't too fond to see the country side.

"I'm all for globetrotting, but…traveling around just to see this. I'm sorry, but you've seen one wasteland you've seen em all," Cinos said as he kept pace with Miles who was taking his signature Sonic style run.

"I know, but that's why we're going this way. You know the planet's days are numbered if things keep going like this,"

"And this one Carrier were supposed to get is going to help us win it all?"

"Well not from jump street," Miles said glancing at his friend. "But in the long run of things,"

"Positive thinking can only go so far though Miles," Cinos said. Cinos then glanced at Miles who he noted had quite the focused look. "Ya know, how do you and the Commander know each other?" Cinos had never got around to asking the question. Since Miles wasn't at the time being too friendly or open to questioning. Sol prodded, but yielded no results. Miles was silent a moment not even batting an eye. It was as if he didn't even hear the question. "Miles?"

"_His parents were G.U.N agents_," Shadow answered Cinos's question. Miles's eyes narrowed as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't. Seeing as Miles's wasn't talking Cinos questioned Shadow.

"How'd you know that?"

"_They were only a rank below me. On missions that I was unable to go on people in their rank usually did. They were good at what they did, I'll give them that. Surprised I hadn't connected the dots earlier, especially with that accident,"_ Shadow said.

"_Accident?"_ Sonic questioned jumping into the conversation Shadow was having with his Carrier.

"_Yeah, but seeing him now I guess it wasn't as serious as everyone thought at first_," Shadow said.

"What happened?" Cinos asked.

"_What I know of what happened is skeptical. I wasn't even there when it happened,_" Miles seemed to glance at the Red Emerald clipped to Cinos's belt.

"_Well what happened?"_ Sonic asked.

"_I just said I'm not sure. Something to do with a Chaos Emerald, but in all honesty it's not my story to tell,"_ Shadow said.

"So Miles, what happened to you?" Cinos asked. Miles however said nothing to him. Cinos felt uncomfortable with Miles's sudden code of silence routine. It was probably something that Miles wanted to forget about. Cinos then had an idea. "Ya know, Ixis Magic always came natural to me," Cinos suddenly began. "Since I was a little kid, I showed the gift of becoming a great and powerful wizard. But anyone who has that power now is a tyrant and it's labeled a dark art. I was always treated differently because of what I could do. It wasn't fair that I was labeled an outcast, just because I was born a certain way," Cinos let a dark frown come to his face. Miles looked at Cinos surprised to see such a down casted look from him. "That's mostly why I was so okay with Naugus being king. He recognized my power as a gift, not a curse. If felt good to be accepted by someone. My parents, I never met them, so who knows what they were like,"

"Well you have real friends now," Miles said grabbing Cinos's attention. Miles's face seemed genuine as he smiled at Cinos. "Never would've thought you had any problems to be honest,"

"Never judge a book by it's cover," Cinos said. "So…what about you?"

"Well…I don't know…it's a little complicated," Miles said averting his eyes in another direction.

"Well you're not the only one who can listen to a sad and complicated story," Cinos said smirking at Miles with a thumbs up.

"Thanks," Miles said glancing at Cinos. "Well now that we had our little bromance moment, let's focus on our mission,"

"Right,"

Miles and Cinos picked up the pace the rest of the way there. Suddenly, they began to notice lights farther up ahead. They realized that they were getting close to a light source and from the looks of it a lot of light. It could only be a city that could get that bright. Miles reached into his pocket to pull out a small rectangular device that looked like a flat touch screen on the front and a grey cover on the back. Miles noticed a red dot blinking and a blue dot moving toward the red dot. Miles knew that Cinos and he were the blue dot. The agent their supposed to rendezvous with is the red dot. Miles gestured for Cinos to follow him. Miles dashed down a hill past by a few dying trees. Miles's feet then began slamming into concrete instead of dirt. Miles noticed the path and began following quickly not wanting to keep the agent waiting any longer. However, monsters appear at the worst of times. Dark Feral suddenly landed on the path cutting them off. Miles screeched to halt as he forced his weight back to come to a complete stop. Cinos made his skates let out a burst to create a sudden stop.

"Great," Miles muttered.

"And they're not alone," Cinos said gesturing to two more Dark Ferals behind them.

"Only four?" Miles said surprised.

"_Omega is in the area, it wouldn't surprise me that he did something while he waited for our arrival,"_ Shadow said.

"Well let's get em out the way and met up with Omega," Cinos said deciding to take the ones in the back.

"Let's make this quick," Miles agreed when he faced the two in front of them. Miles and Cinos stood back to back than dashed off to take out their targets. Miles dashed forward then did a small hop as he used his momentum to go sliding against the ground with a sliding tackle. He was able to knock one of the creatures into the air making it go in a tail spin. Miles got his hands on the ground to come to a stop next to the other Feral. Miles then performed a flare throwing his legs against the beast face and knocking it away. "This just get's easier doesn't it?"

"Feels like it," Cinos said performing an elbow drop one of the Dark Feral, and at the same time performing a vertical kick into the other Feral's jaw. Cinos then slammed one of the Feral's head into the pavement breaking it's face into it. Cinos then sharply turned around to perform a backhand strike to the other beast. "I just can't get over how strong I am!"

"Or how flexible I am," Miles said performing a split as he slammed both his heels on the beasts heads. "But we should wrap this up, ya know, got stuff to do,"

Miles charged toward Cinos as Cinos did as well running in Sonic style fashion. As they past each other they linked arms. This caused them to swing each other and launching each other as they curled up into spin form. Miles and Cinos struck the monsters and ended them rather quickly and easily. Miles dusted off his hands smirking. Cinos huffed at the destroyed monsters. Cinos nodded his head toward the path ahead of them then charged off. Miles watched after him for a moment before pulling his arms back then shooting off after Cinos. They moved down the road to come to the hub of a park area. There a robotic figure was waiting in front a fountain, well a destroyed fountain. The giant golden ball that was held up over the fountain had crushed the side of the monument. The water seemed long gone with none of it flowing anymore. Miles and Cinos slowed down their pace to come to a stop in front of Omega. Omega stood around 6 feet, towering over the shorter boys. His armor was gleaming even in the darkness with his red and black paint job. Omega's red eyes scanned the boy's faces, literally. Omega cropped their faces in his systems and pulled up the G.U.N. files. When he found a match for them he finally addressed them.

"Am I to assume you are the children I am supposed to rendezvous with?" Omega questioned for clarity.

"Yeah, that's us," Cinos said.

"Nice to see you again Omega," Miles greeted. Omega took a closer look at Miles and began searching through his memory banks to find Miles's place. In a moment's notice Omega responded, without missing a beat.

"Greetings Miles Sergant," Omega said.

"Thanks,"

"Welcome to Empire City," Omega said gesturing to the tall buildings far off in the distance. The buildings were tall enough to be seen over the trees, while standing underneath a tree. However, the city looked unclean and very…dirty. Miles and Cinos instantly felt it, and Omega knew they would. "I understand you have been gifted with the abilities of Shadow and Sonic. They will be needed to handle this problem,"

Cinos's Chaos Emerald suddenly glows a bright red light. Then in another moment Cinos's eyes and demeanor changed. However, Omega recognized the change immediately and knew who it was. "Hello Omega,"

"Greetings Shadow, a lot has changed since you have been gone,"

"I would think so old friend,"

"What do you need help with Omega?" Miles asked.

"A boy," Omega said simply.

"A boy?" Shadow asked.

"I shall elaborate," Omega began. "This city has been a great concentration for, what is known as Dark Gaia energy. Mephiles's evil dark energy has also influenced this area. Which is the very root of the problem. These two dark energies usually do not coexist in the same setting. Usually an area is either infested with Mephiles's beast, or spawns of the being known as Dark Gaia. Never both,"

"Somehow, this Dark Gaia energy has been spilling out from the core. It's safe to assume Mephiles is the cause…" Shadow began.

"However, this city is proof, that he does not have full control over that power," Miles said.

"_So, we're still in the game_," Sonic said making sure he was following.

"Yes," Omega said simply. "However, the energies are currently at war with each other here. One trying to become the dominant of the area and suppress the other. Dark Gaia energy has more potent effects on fleshlings then Mephiles's powers. However, put that together…"

"We have a mixture of conflicting, and very destructive emotions going around. And worst yet, a heavily populated area. It must be war every waking moment," Shadow surmised.

"Affirmative,"

"Now, where does this kid come in?"

"He is a carrier, like the meatbags you have with you now. His powers consist of great strength, equal to that of mine. However, he has very dangerous powers thanks to his own unnatural abilities, and his hero,"

"Who is it?"

"I believe his name was…Knuckles the Echidna,"

"_Hey alright, we found Knux!_" Sonic said excited. "_I was starting to miss that loveable dope. With him we could finally start putting Team Sonic back together,"_

"Team Sonic?" Miles questioned.

"What's this kid's name?" Shadow asked trying to keep the focus clear.

"His name is Tony Rivers, 13 years old, and has the unnatural abilities of three elements,"

"What?" Shadow asked staring up at his robotic friend wondering if he heard right.

"**Could you run that by us again?**" Cinos said for Shadow.

"Apparently, the boy is not from our zone, and he has the powers of elements. Fire, electricity, and darkness,"

"Kinda like an Ixis Wizard…you were unable to stop him yourself?"

"Negative,"

"Why'd he turn on you?" Miles asked.

"He attempted to control the darkness around us, and was overwhelmed. He left himself vulnerable to it's affects and now he's paying the price. He's now the slave of the dark forces, and has single handedly doubled the destruction rate of this city with his gang,"

"He started a gang?" Shadow asked.

"Many followers, under the same darkness as him,"

"Great…" Miles groaned.

"**So we're gonna have to fight him, and tear his gang apart. Yeah, that hurts just thinking about it,**" Cinos said.

"_We came this far, might as well. Besides, this will make up for the lack of monsters,"_ Sonic said.

"Yay, something to look forward to," Shadow said as he faded back into the emerald and giving Cinos control again. "_Let's get moving,"_

"I shall lead the way," Omega said turning as he began stomping off. Miles and Cinos walked after the robot. Omega led the boys out of the park and toward the actual city streets. Despite lights covering the entire city brightening it considerably, the streets were empty. Miles and Cinos glanced around the area as they followed Omega down the street. Cars were parked on the side walk, but it looked like the vehicles had not been used in a while. As they kept moving they noticed a truck parked…into the side of a building. It seemed like no one minded it being there, so there it remained.

"At least they don't have random fires all over the place," Miles stated. Miles shivered slightly as his emerald began humming.

"You okay?" Cinos asked looking at Miles who was walking right next to him.

"Yeah…just this weird chill…it must be that Dark Gaia energy. Ever since we fought those things at Central City, I get this chill around them,"

"Might have something to do with Sonic, I mean I don't feel anything," Cinos glanced around. "Save the feeling of a dark presence hovering over us,"

Omega led them deeper into the city Destruction seemed to rein supreme the deeper they went. Cars over turned in the streets, lamp post fallen over, and the city seemed to get considerably darker as they went. "They prefer the darker parts of the city, so they try to cut out as much light as they can," Omega explained.

"Then our Chaos Emeralds might give us away?" Cinos stated.

"They would pick up on the energy of the emerald's either way,"

"Well at least we know how to fight these guys," Miles said.

"What do you mean?"

"Back at Central City, I used my emerald to expel the Dark Gaia energy out of these four guys. That would be our best bet to stop these guys. An exorcism basically,"

"Ooooh, next I'm gonna go fight ghost," Cinos said.

"_Been there, done that, annoying little weirdoes ghost are. They make the whole undead thing kinda lame,"_ Sonic said.

"Well, let's see how the others are doing?" Miles said pulling out the device from earlier. He tapped the device a few times then waited for a moment. What he got was an exasperated hello from Sol. "Hey, how are things going?"

"Well, we just got out of the chopper, and we're about to head to Casino Night Place. How about you?"

"We made it to Empire City a few minutes ago, and met up with Omega,"

Sol sucked her teeth, "I knew you guys would get to Empire City before we got Mogul's place,"

"You just missed being carried by Miles," Andrea's voice said from the background. At that Sol's face heated up as she turned around sharply.

"S-Shut up Andy!" Sol exclaimed and the response she received was a chorus of girlish laughter, even from Blaze and Amy from the sound of it. Sol gathered herself quickly trying to push away her annoyance. "Ugh, anyway, how are things going for you and Cinos? You guys have your bromance moment yet?"

"Yep before we got here," Cinos said from the side. Miles rolled his eyes then returned his attention back to Sol.

"Omega is taking us to the root of the problem. To be honest I think we'll be done with this in no time. Sonic and Shadow are two of the mightiest forces on the entire planet. Put them together, and their near unstoppable,"

"So indirectly, so are we," Cinos said. Sol hmmed in mock interest.

"Well aren't we get ahead ourselves a bit. Besides, you guys haven't even gotten to use Sonic and Shadow's more dangerous moves," Sol said.

"Well we're ready for whatever," Miles said.

"Guys, we got a problem," Mikaela suddenly said on Sol's side.

"Multiple threats detected!" Omega exclaimed stopping in front of both boys abruptly. Miles and Cinos almost bumped into him. They both looked past him to see numerous people began gathering in front of them. Miles and Cinos looked behind them to notice that they were surrounded.

"Wow…how did I not pick up on them?" Cinos asked himself.

"_You weren't tuned into your surroundings_," Shadow said.

"And you let us walk into a trap!"

"_I thought you had the mighty Sonic and Shadow's powers on your side. Who could possible stop you two_?" Shadow asked mockingly.

"Nobody, but I hate it when someone gets the drop on me," Cinos said facing the enemies in the back.

"Especially so many someones," Miles said facing the same direction as Cinos. They noticed the crowed all had blank stares in their eyes. They all wore these toy devil horns on their heads, black leather jackets with fake bat wings on the back, pale faces, and various choices of weapons. From knives, broken beer bottles, pipes, chains, bats, and other sorts of blunt or sharp weapons.

"Multiple subjects converging on our current location," Omega stated.

"Our skill repertoire includes simple math Omega," Miles said as he watched the crowd of people increase. Miles saw the crowd was starting to become overwhelming with people. It felt like they were in the center of a Justin Beiber concert.

"Okay, and we can't use deadly force on these guys because their just humans who are possessed," Cinos said.

"I have been restricted to do so," Omega said. "Quite a small crowd tonight,"

"Now he's just trying to scare us," Cinos said.

"_Well guys I think it's best to get started. Don't want anymore to show up. Better start putten em down for their naps," _Sonic said.

"Alright then, Cinos you tuck, and I'll read the bed time story," Miles glanced at Omega. "Omega, you can be the night light,"

At that the crowd turned violent and began to attack the three G.U.N. agents. Miles and Cinos took one portion of the crowd while Omega took his own portion. Miles began pounding the living daylights out of each person he saw. He stuck close to Cinos as to not lose sight of him, or for Cinos not to lose sight of Miles. Miles dropped down under a pole swing then swung a backward roundhouse into a guy's jaw. Miles dived forward with a superman punch into someone else's jaw. Cinos was behind him using his wind element to clear out the area for Miles to fight at his own pace. Miles jumped up performing a vertical kick knocking away a group of people with just one kick.

"Alright, banter, ummm…" Miles began thinking as he side stepped out of the way of someone swinging a broken beer bottle at him. "Oh, I'm guessing you guys saw gas prices estimated for next month,"

"_Good, but too economic_," Sonic stated.

"Try, hey does anybody know where I can find a good rave at?" Cinos said muscling his way through the crowd.

"_Focus Cinos,"_ Shadow said sternly.

"Sorry Shadow says no jokes," Cinos said as he hopped onto an overturned car to get a good look at the crowd. He saw people flying every which direction around Omega. Although he could tell the robot was annoyed for having to hold back. Cinos noticed more people started to climb onto the car. One of them hits him in the head with a thick piece of wood, breaking it against his skull. Cinos hit the ground and suddenly everyone swarmed him. The crowd was too thick for Miles to fight through, but luckily Cinos gained a new power. "Choas…Boost!" and in one swift motion all the people were thrown off Cinos.

"Whoa…" Miles muttered seeing Cinos glowing this strange red energy. This energy was so strong the people actually seemed a bit detoured of getting back up. "Well we still got work to do, so let's do it,"

Miles rammed his elbow into another guy's stomach, as Cinos threw a woman into a crowd of people with one hand. Smirking Cinos smashed his way through a crowd of people passing by like a moving vehicle. Miles scolded him saying not to use such force against these people. Miles performed an uppercut punch then moved into a back hand strike. Someone tackled him to the ground, but he quickly performed a reversal throwing the person off. Miles flipped back onto his feet as he began moving through the crowd.

"Who's having a good time, raise your hand?" Miles exclaimed performing a front flip over a crowd that tried to corner him. Miles placed his hand on a woman's shoulder balancing himself. Miles fell forward forcing the woman to fall back a bit. Using that Miles flipped the woman and threw her into another crowd.

"How many are we at?" Cinos asked swinging his body in a 360 knocking everyone away while spinning on his one skate.

"Don't know, but let's hope they get bored of this soon," Miles said spinning his feet as he ran circles around people. "Because trouncing just never loses it's magic. Once is never enough,"

"_Hey you're getting it!" _Sonic cheered.

"Yeah, after about like twenty fights," Miles said dodging a pipe. However, a beer bottle was launched at the back of his head which shattered into multiple glass fragments. Miles cried in pain as he fell forward rubbing his head. Cinos was there in a moments notice to cover him with a simple snap of his fingers. Cinos smashed another bottle with his fist and then raised his hand to let a mighty gust of wing shoot out at the crowd.

"Their starting to get one too many lucky shots," Cinos exclaimed.

"Back to back," Miles said standing back up rubbing his head. They both stood their ground as the crowd converged on them. Miles and Cinos began battling in a circle still remaining at each other's backside. Miles grabbed someone's arm who tried a knife jab. Miles turned and threw the person over his shoulder Cinos moving behind him. Cinos let out small wind burst that knocked people away, and Miles moved behind him as he reeves his legs like supersonic leg sweep. "So I'm guessing no one had anything better to do tonight,"

"Despite the whole city looks a mess," Cinos added.

"I mean clean it up, seriously," Miles said performing a slide between two attacks. "Or I'm thinking groundings for everyone. Hospital room or otherwise,"

"This is getting insane we gotta get Omega and go. We just can't take this many people,"

"Well holding back at least,"

"_I sense an emerald approaching," _Sonic said.

"_He's right, it's close by…"_ Shadow said in agreement.

"Okay guys, trounce break!" Miles said kicking off people's head as Cinos used his wind element to shoot into the air. Miles began running over the crowd stepping on heads and shoulders. Miles performed a front flip then in show of great acrobatic speed. He touched down on the ground then performed another front flip with much greater height, landing a platform jetting out the side of a building then shoot up the side of the building. "Wow, can't believe I just did that…" Miles said throwing himself over the edge of the building and onto the rooftop.

"_That was amazing…_" Sonic agreed. Miles's acute hearing then suddenly picked up on a presence behind him. He thought it was Cinos since he saw him come up too.

"Cinos?" Miles questioned turning around, however, who he saw was not Cinos. Instead there is a boy that was a couple inches shorter then him. Black hair with bangs that covered his forehead, red eyes, two small white horns sticking out his head, a blue tail about 12 inches long, and on his side seemed to be a sword. On his back he has on a sky blue backpack. His skin tone suggested he was a regular white kid. On the sword handle are these strange rubies. He has on dark blue shorts, green white and black Adidas, a black shirt with blue letters that say "I know it all, just not all the time". Miles eyes widened as he took in the boy's appearance. "Well…I know what I'm going to be for Halloween," The boy's eyes narrowed as flames suddenly surrounded one hand, and electricity the other. Miles gaped for a moment and then he gulped. "I'm guessing you're Tony Rivers, right,"

"You got it," the boy said. Miles looked at Tony's backpack to notice a purple Chaos Emerald on the side of the bag.

"_Yo Knux, can ya hear me!_" Sonic called out. However, all that was heard were the muffled sounds of a voice calling out from the emerald. Obviously the darkness in Tony was overwhelming Knuckles and the emerald's positive side. _"Sounds like we gotta soften him up before Knux can retake control for Tony,"_

Tony slammed his lightning covered fist into the rooftop and suddenly an explosion of lights and electricity cut through the air. Debris of the building was thrown skyward into the air. Miles's body went flying through the air out of his control and at the mercy of gravity. Suddenly, Miles felt a heavy hit that threw him toward the ground and breaking into the concrete of the street. Miles laid there as the pain shot through his body.

"Miles!" Cinos exclaimed charging toward him.

"Watch out!" Miles tried to warn Cinos, but was too late as Tony came down kicking Cinos in the back and throwing him through the air and into the side of a brick building. Cinos left a print on the side, but he was able to brush it off to stand up. Cinos raised his hands and shot out a stream of electricity. However, it hit Tony, who was unaffected as he waved the attack away in annoyance.

"What the-," Cinos gasped.

"He has electrical powers too!" Miles exclaimed climbing out of the crater he made. Miles looked up to see Tony staring down at him as he stood over Miles. Tony raised a hand and suddenly chaos energy began forming around his fist until it became a glove with two spikes on the inner knuckles. "This…is gonna hurt…"

Tony brought his fist up, but only for Omega slam his forearm into Tony's side that sent him flying through the air and back down onto the concrete. Miles thanked Omega for the assistance when Omega looked down at Miles. Cinos came over to help Miles, so Omega turned to face Tony. The other gang members rushed over to help Tony up from the injury. Darkness surrounded his body, and the boy let out cries of pain. Suddenly, his cries faded away and the boy stood up. Upon making a quick observation it was easy to see where the gang got their sense of style.

"We can't cure all these people at once," Cinos said as he helped bring Miles to his feet.

"Take out the pack leader, and soon the others follow," Miles said.

"Protocol calls for much heavier artillery," Omega said making his arms click. Suddenly his claws retracted and two cannons replaced them. Omega shot forth homing missiles toward Tony. Tony raised a hand and a stream of flames erupted from his palm. The flames detonated the missiles and continued onto Omega. Omega stood his ground as the flames slammed into his armor. Omega held strong under the pressure of his flames even though the force was enough to push Omega back slowly.

"_He's giving you a chance to strike,"_ Shadow told them.

"Then let's take it," Miles said dashing around Omega's left side as Cinos goes off Omega's right.

"Since my electrical attacks won't work, let's try this. Chaos Spear!" Cinos exclaimed swinging his arm forward to launch numerous spears of green chaos energy. They exploded on Tony's location and the flames stopped abruptly. This made Omega fall to a knee as smoke still laced his armor. Miles charged toward the smoke with a spin dash. He charged right into the dust cloud and out the other side with Tony struggling to hold him back. Miles suddenly uncurled out of his spin dash surprising Tony. Miles grabbed Tony's wrist then swung his knee into Tony's jaw. Tony using his strength threw Miles skyward. Miles absorbed the force of the throw as he flipped backwards and landed down on his feet.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that," Miles mocked.

"Then let's see how long you can go until you break," Tony said pulling out his silver bladed sword and he rushed forward.

"You're not very fast on your feet," Miles said as he leaned his body weight on his right leg and dodging the diagonal swish of the blade. Tony skillfully spun the sword in his hand holding it backwards then swung it horizontally. Miles performed a perfect cartwheel right over the blade with perfect timing. Tony stared at Miles surprised. "Yeah I know, I make looking awesome easy,"

"I'll take him," Cinos said tackling Tony. However, Cinos overestimated his own strength as Tony simply threw Cinos off and into the side of a pickup truck.

"_I'm stronger then Sonic, but not anywhere near the strength of Knuckles Cinos. That was a bad idea to charge him head on like that," _Shadow said.

"Noted," Cinos said standing to his feet.

Tony was striking at Miles with rapid sword swings that Miles was dodging with relative ease. Miles dodged another slash then turned sharply standing on one leg as he swung his other leg around aimed for Tony's head. Tony raised an electrical barrier around himself, so when Miles's leg made contact he got a strong shock in response. Tony then grabbed Miles's leg then swung Miles around in a complete circle. When Tony completed three complete rotations, he released Miles sending him soaring over the ground. Miles's reflexes kicked in as he reached out clamping onto a lamp post and swinging around.

"What goes around, comes back around," Miles said as his feet slammed into Tony's chest with the same force he was thrown with. Miles kicked off as Tony went sliding against the ground. Tony growled glaring at Miles. "This has gotta end,"

"And it shall, in your defeat you fool,"

"Ya know you can surrender at any time," Tony in response lifted a thick piece of rubble and chucked it at Miles. Miles performed a spin dash to the side avoiding the huge rubble that almost crushed him. "Okay then, but hey if you change your mind the offer is still on the table,"

"Your are worthless as a fighter, and it shall end with you under my heel,"

"That's adorable; you think I might actually lose this. Come here so I can slap you silly, you adorable little munchin,"

Tony growled at Miles as darkness began swirling around his body. Miles saw this as his chance to free Tony from the bad darkness corrupting him. Miles charged forward in his Sonic style run. Tony put his sword in it's sheath then raised his arms in a fighting position. Miles had come dashing in with a hook kick that Tony blocked with his fist. Tony responded with a horizontal kick that Miles managed to jump around. Miles did a quick roll then dived forward for a superman punch that Tony blocked with his forearm. Tony swung himself around Miles to position himself on Miles's side. Tony swung a powerful hook punch into Miles jaw that sent Miles airborne. Tony then made a mad rush toward where Miles was heading before he could get there. Miles managed to get his feet underneath him, but he still slid against the ground even as Tony was about to come down on him. Miles gasped.

"Chaos Control," Miles sputtered. In a flash Miles vanished and Tony's fist broke into the concrete. Tony was surprised to see Miles vanish, but then he reappeared right next to him. Miles spun around to throw his shin into Tony's gut, and then jabbed forward with his knuckles slamming into the side of Tony's jaw. Miles swung his legs around knocking Tony's feet from under him and he fell to the ground. "Didn't know I could do that," Miles muttered as he jumped back. "Cinos! Omega! Time for the finisher!" Miles called to his teammates. Omega retracted his cannons and just left his cannon arms empty. Miles curled up into a ball and placed himself in on of the chambers. Cinos catching on placed himself in the other.

Omega took to the air with his rockets and then took aim. He looked both spinning boys onto Tony then shot they both out at the same time. Miles and Cinos came down with the force of a comet as they smashed into Tony. The whole street seemed to have cracks traveling in numerous directions from the source of the crash. A powerful light flashed inside the dust cloud as both Miles and Cinos jumped back both trying desperately to catch their breath.

"Did that do it?" Cinos asked.

"We'll have to wait and see," Miles said. Omega quickly joined the two as he looked into the dust cloud.

"Scanners show excess darkness has been removed," Omega reported stepping forward. Omega walked through the dust cloud then walked back out with Tony in his hands unconscious.

"Well at least we didn't hurt him too bad," Miles said relieved.

"Warning, new threat detected!" Omega informed them both. Suddenly this strange darkness began to converge and then spread to the rest of the gang members.

"I vote tactical retreat," Miles said. Omega and Cinos instantly agreed.

"Allow me, Chaos Control!" Cinos raised his red emerald. In a bright flash of light all four of them had vanished before the gang members could lay a hand on them. It was clear that this mission was going to be much harder than first expected.


	15. Mental Mayhem

_**Wielders of Chaos part 15**_

"_**Mental Mayhem,"**_

Sol sighed as she and her friends sat on the helicopter on their way to Casino Night Place. She hated traveling like this, even though this was her first time in a helicopter, but it lacked the interest she thought it would. Mikaela decided to fly on the outside of the helicopter to act as a scout since they were traveling in dangerous territory. Sol glanced around to see Rob seemed extremely content, and Andrea was looking at her slyly. Sol raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"What is your deal?" Sol finally asked.

"You seem bored riding in a helicopter,"

"So?"

"I guess someone is just more accustomed to being carried?" Andrea inquired. Sol's face flushed slightly than she sharply turned her head away for the jerboa as her red eyes stared out into the dark sky.

"W-Well, can you blame me, he is faster than this thing,"

"Is that the only reason?"

"Shut up Andrea," Sol huffed.

"What are you guys talking about?" Rob finally asked curiosity getting the better of him.

"Well to put it in simplest terms…Sol here has a crush on Miles," Andrea stated making Sol whirl her head around again.

"I do not!"

"Ah, but you do, it's written all over your face sometimes,"

"_Is this really an appropriate time to discuss this?_" Blaze asked sticking up for her Carrier.

"See, Blaze knows it's true too, that's why she's trying to get us quiet,"

"I do not have a crush on Miles, Andrea," Sol said sternly. Although nobody seemed to buy it, heck, even the pilot looked to be in disagreement. "It's just…no one has ever carried me like that before…ya know…like I was a princess…"

"So?"

"And well…ah you wouldn't get it,"

"I probably wouldn't but hey try me, we're all girls here, except for Rob," Andrea said as she included the pilot who was also a female.

"Well…I mean…he's so…I don't know what words to use,"

"_There called adjectives, give us some!_" Amy cheered.

"Well…he seems to understand me, more than most people can. I don't know how, but he does. I guess I like he's…just there…"

"So, are you gonna tell him?" Andrea asked.

"T-Tell him what?"

"The truth of course, would he have to swoop in and save you from a burning building for you to say it,"

"Um, I'm impervious to fire, so I would probably be saving him,"

"You know what I mean," Andrea said folding her arms. "When you find someone special like that I think you should hold onto them while you still can. Especially in this business, there is always a chance we might not make it," Sol noted the seriousness in her friend's tone, and assumed there was reasoning behind her words. Deciding to pry for it later she turned to see Mikaela fly alongside the chopper. Mikaela flew ahead of them then took a sharp dive down.

"Okay ladies, and Rob," The pilot began with some levity in her voice. "We've approached the drop zone, this is as close as I can get you without the chance of being shot down," she said.

"Thanks so much," Andrea said. Andrea opened the helicopter door then looked down. Shortly Mikaela flew up to give a thumbs up of the area being clear. Andrea allowed herself to fall forward; down towards the ground. Shortly after her Rob also took a leap of faith, so this left Sol.

"Thanks for the ride, and sorry for my complaints," Sol said.

"You're welcome and good luck with him,"

"Yeah, Mogul sounds like he's gonna be a tough one,"

"That's not who I was talking about," she said making Sol blush slightly as she leaped out the chopper too. Sol performed a top spin allowing flames to shoot out and slow her decent. She touched down on the ground below joining her friends. The area they landed in seemed to be a dying forest with withering trees scattered all around the area, a dried dirt path that reeked of an awful stench, and the grass was also gray and withering. Sol felt somewhat bad that her flames had sent the grass into ash on instant contact. Sol stood up straight after her landing to check her surroundings again for any unseen threats.

"Not to worry Sol, I checked everything out before you guys came. I don't think there are any monsters around here," Mikaela said scratching her chin.

"That's odd, monsters are crawling all over the planet, yet not this place,"

"Yeah, that is weird," Andrea said. "Especially with Mogul having a Chaos Emerald,"

"Which is why I found it so odd,"

"Isn't Mogul supposed to be a Demigod, or something like that?"

"Yeah, an extremely powerful one, which is why I think we should be careful as we proceed," Rob said with arms folded.

"_I kinda hope Sonic, Shadow, and their carriers hurry up over at Empire City. Their help would probably detrimental_," Silver said.

"Ah, I think we can handle this ourselves," Andrea said confidently.

"_Mogul sounds like a dangerous opponent though, help could be vital_," Blaze said agreeing with Silver.

"_Well let's just do what we can. If we need Miles and Cinos we can call them, but right now lets play the hand we have_," Amy added her two cents of wisdom. Everyone agreed with her statement, some finding it oddly mature of her to say.

"Well, we won't know what we're getting into until he get there," Rob said gesturing toward the path ahead of them. Seeing as the drop zone was pretty far off from the actual city, they all decided to walk there. They saw no point in rushing there when it was pretty far away. While on the walk Andrea decided to include Mikaela in on the talk they had in the chopper and to get her opinion. Sol's handheld suddenly started beeping in her pocket. Sol, surprised at first, pulled out the small device then pressed the answer button. Sol saw that it was Miles who had called.

"Hello," Sol answered a bit exasperated.

"Hey, how are things going?" Miles asked.

"Well we got off the chopper a little while ago, and were heading in on foot to Casino Night Place. How about you?"

"We made it to Empire City a few minutes ago, and met up with Omega,"

Sol sucked her teeth. She was somewhat annoyed that Miles and Cinos were already in the thick of their assignment while they were still trying to get there, "I knew you guys would get to Empire city before we got to Mogul's place,"

"You just missed being carried by Miles," Andrea said. Sol's face heated up a bit glaring at Andrea for her two cents.

"S-Shut up Andy!" Sol said flustered as the response she got was girlish laughter, even from Blaze and Amy. Rob however just sighed feeling alone. Sol noticed how Miles's eyes seem to cast to the side nervously as he seemingly almost dropped the communicator. "Anyway, how are things going for you and Cinos? Did you guys have your bromance moment yet?"

"Yep, before we got here," Cinos said from the side on Miles's end. Miles rolled his eyes then returned his attention back to Sol.

"Omega is taking us to the root of the problem. To be honest I think we'll be done with this in no time. Sonic and Shadow are two of the mightiest forces on the entire planet. Put them together, and their near unstoppable," Sol huffed at confident Miles sounded.

"So indirectly, so are we," Cinos said. Sol hmmed in mock interest.

"Well aren't we getting ahead of ourselves a bit. Besides, you guys haven't even gotten to use Sonic and Shadow's more dangerous moves," Sol said.

Mikaela's head suddenly snapped to the side, "Guys we got a problem,"

"Multiple threats detected!" alerted a computerized voice on Miles's end of communications. Sol quickly focused her attention on there end as she shut her off her communicator.

It wasn't long until they were surrounded by unknown entities. Everyone got their respective powers and weapons ready to respond, but not lash out just yet. They studied the crowd wondering what they were up to, and why they didn't just attack. Mikaela quickly pointed out that they weren't monsters, but actually people and mobians. Upon realizing this they all dropped their guard, everyone except Mikaela.

"What's wrong just some people?" Andrea said glancing around the crowd.

"Something…doesn't feel right about these guys…" she said as her psychic abilities were telling her to be very wary of the crowd. It wasn't until they all heard a unanimous sounding click did they understand. Mikaela acted quickly raising her hands to create a psychic barrier that proctected them from the fury of bullets that went fling towards the group. Mikaela cringed as she faltered under the heavy attack.

"_Hold strong Mikaela!"_ Silver encouraged.

"I-I'll...try..." Mikaela muttered as her stance was shaky as she held her hands up.

"We could really use an idea here…" Andrea muttered.

"Calvary is a'comin!" exclaimed a very loud voice. Suddenly, strange glowing objects began flying through the air as the guns were slashed to pieces ending the hail storm of lead. With the threat gone Mikaela dropped her shield as she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Upon her fall the others moved to defend themselves. They also noticed that three other people had joined them. They all appeared to be male and they also displayed various abilities. One of the boys flew through the air on tiny wings that resemble an insect's. He wears a plain white shirt, dark blue jeans, white and black puma sneakers, and he also has short brown hair. The other was in the ninja outfit wielding twin katanas, and lastly a boy wearing sunglasses that looked like sport goggles with faded blue jeans, an olive t-shirt, and black combat boots. With their assistance the girls, and Rob, were able to fend off their the guns it seemed the entire crowd were complete push overs.

"So, who are you guys?" Andrea asked knocking over a tree to create a barrier around them. Mikaela finally gathered her strength again and assisted by uprooting trees a laying them out.

"You could say," began the boy in the green shirt. "We're good buddies of yours,"

"Huh, I've never-," Andrea began but was cut off as Amy suddenly took over.

"Vector?" Amy questioned. "Is that you in there?"

"And me!" exclaimed the boy flying through the air.

"I am also here," added the cool and collected voice of the ninja.

"Charmy and Espio too huh,"

"**Amy, these guys are carriers too?"**

"It would seem so," Amy said swinging her hammer absentmindedly as she nailed a person in the face.

"Well, let's try and clear out these guys before we start catching up alright," Sol said propelling herself through the air as she performed a hammer punch into a man's jaw.

"Well kid, we're professionals, we can do both," Vector smirked as he swung his arm; knocking down another crowd of people and mobians. "So kiddo, how have you been?"

"Oh, can't complain, ya know besides the whole dead thing and losing my body," Amy spoke knocking down a person with the handle of her hammer. "And you?"

"Oh, don't get me started!" Vector exclaimed slamming his fist into the ground to create a shockwave. "Charmy has been driving me crazy with how weird he's been, and Espio has been all extra silent lately. Those were the most words I've heard him spoke all year,"

"Wow, I thought you guys getting stuck together would be great, at least you had someone to talk to,"

"Well at least you had your "me" time,"

"Well sorry to hear things have been rough for you guys," Amy said deflecting a rock that was thrown at her.

"So, is this the dream team we've been waiting for?" Vector asked scoping out the others fighting. "Not what I expected,"

"Sonic and Shadow are off on their own to get another Carrier, and we're here to get Mogul's Chaos Emerald,"

"You guys are trying to take on Mogul without your two heavy hitters!" Vector exclaimed. "That's suicide,"

"**HEY!**"

"No offense,"

"Our Carriers can handle themselves, besides Sonic and Shadow shouldn't take too long, we can handle this,"

"Not without the Chaotix you won't," Vector smirked.

"Fine then, clear the way Detective Vector,"

"Yes ma'am," Vector said in a mad rush as he plowed his way through the thick crowd of people. Upon him creating an open the others quickly followed. Sol created a firewall along their path so no one would intervene; however this did not stop a few. Some of them pushed through the flames catching on fire, but still focused on attacking them.

"What's with these people?" Mikaela said flying over everyone's head as she used her powers to push people aside.

"It's like they don't care that fire can burn them," Sol said as she realized throwing more flames would only injure more people.

"They do not concern themselves with their well being because they are not supposed to," said a voice, but the voice seemed to come from all around them.

"The hell-," Sol muttered not believing what was happening. Upon studying the crowd further she saw that all of them had a green crystal shaped symbol on their foreheads, with their eyes glowing a very odd green color. "These people are…"

"Completely and totally under my control, and shall follow my will as I dictate it. You young ones are far too deep to turn back now, and I sincerely hope you know how troublesome your transgressions have been thus far. I shall be brief, surrender your Chaos Emeralds to me willingly, and you may all walk away with your lives. Failure to do so in the manner I dictated, will inevitable end in your defeat,"

"Wow, he is quite the talker…" Andrea muttered.

"Yeah, always has been," Vector muttered. The group soon noticed that the flames began to converge on them as they got more dangerous forcing them to corral together. "Yo, fire princess, what's going on?"

"I-I'm not doing this!" Sol exclaimed.

"_Mogul is an Ixis Wizard just like Naugus, but Mogul is much more powerful than Naugus. I'm afraid we might be in trouble…" _Blaze muttered.

"And right you are my dear," said Mogul's voice from all the people around.

"Wait, so you control all of these people?" Mikaela asked.

"Yes, that is correct. These, "citizens" of my utopia have all been marked, and serve as protection of my oasis of peace,"

"T-That's awful…your making them fight!" Andrea exclaimed in disgust.

"Now, now, no need for that tone of voice. We all must do what is necessary for the majority, besides, was it not you all who did the most damage. These people were no real threat or challenge to you, so why attack them so viciously?"

"Um, they shot at us," Rob said annoyed.

"You are one sick dude Mogul," Vector said.

"And you're nuts," Andrea added.

"Vector," Espio said suddenly from the side. Vector turned his head to look at the ninja. "We cannot hold possession any longer, we must switch back,"

Vector mashed his teeth in annoyance. The emerald in Vector's possession suddenly began glowing a bright greenish color. The boy who had Vector controlled opened his eyes to reveal bluish green colored eyes. The other two also seemed to power down as the ninja eyes settled to a brown color, and the flying boy's eyes settled to a green grayish color. All three of them looked pretty tired at this point.

"Now that you have a weakened party now, it should be easier for you make a decision,"

"Wrong," the ninja responded.

"We won't be giving in so easily," Andrea said determined more then ever with her hammer swung over her shoulders.

"This is pretty low, especially for you Mogul, I never thought you would stoop to something like this. I mean, you're still a bad guy in my time period, but you at least have some class," Mikaela said floating in the air.

"Well, desperate times call for desperate measures,"

"These people aren't your pawns Mogul!"

"Besides," Sol began calmly with her arms crossed. "You could send a hundred more our way and it still be useless. All you're doing is wearing us down at this point which may take a while, some of us have been at this for a while,"

"Oh my dear, you have me all wrong," Mogul said with the most upbeat of tone. "Weaklings are not allowed into my dwelling, and those who are…well the results should speak for themselves as you look around. So, I welcome you into my utopia, and hope your stay is pleasurable,"

"What's the catch?" Sol questioned.

"I merely insist that you sit in on my so called "rambling" sessions to hear me out, so I can explain my actions. So I might grow favor in your eyes somewhat,"

"That's the classy side of Mogul talking, I say we go for it," Mikaela said. This earned a look of shocked faces toward her.

"Are you nuts?" Rob asked. "Why would we want to stay with the megalomaniac?"

"Ya know, we gotta think like Mogul right now…" she muttered lowering her voice. "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer…"

"Ah, I see…" Sol muttered. In truth Mogul was quite devious to invite them onto his turf, and making them waste so much time and energy fighting. The offer was simply too good to pass up. Sol turned to the crowd. "Alright, we're coming…" Sol then turned to the three new arrivals. "You guys with us?"

"Well we favor the approach that keeps us alive," said the boy with a mop of brown hair. "By the way the names Will," He pointed toward the boy in the sunglasses. "That's Dakato, but we call him DJ," He then points to the eldest of them in black ninja apparel with a mask on with white dreadlocks coming from the back of the back of the mask. "And that's our very own ninja Kitt," the teen only gave a nod at his name being called.

"And each of you are the Carriers of..."

"Vector, Charmy, and Espio,"

"Right, well glad to meet you guys!" Mikaela exclaimed shaking all of their hands at the same time using her powers. "I'm Mikaela by the way. These are my friends, Sol, Andy, and Rob,"

"Excellent, you have all been acquainted, now please allow my guards to show you to my door," as Mogul said this the flames suddenly dropped down until they became embers. With much penitence they allowed the possessed people to lead them.

"I hope things are going much smoother for Miles and Cinos…" Sol muttered.

"Come on, things couldn't possibly be better for them, since they got the easy job," Andrea said.

* * *

Deep in Empire City a horde of Dark Gaia monsters were beginning to converge on one location and on the other side a horde of Mephiles's monsters were moving in the opposite direction. In the center of the armies stood four figures, Miles, Tony, Cinos, and Omega all standing ready for battle.

"Uh, I change my mind, I don't wanna go to Empire City anymore…" Miles said.


	16. Escape From the City

_**The Wielders of Chaos part 16**_

"_**Escape From the City,"**_

There was a low grumble coming from a person in a dark room. It sounded as if someone was beginning to wake up. The person's eyes slowly opened as his pupils slowly adjusted to the light. Once focused he looked around to see he's in an old warehouse on top of a mattress. The boy looked left and right until a voice suddenly grabbed his attention.

"_Tony, whew, it's about time you woke up,_" the voice stated with relief.

"Knuckles?" the boy named Tony questioned.

"_The one and only_," was his response.

"Where are you?" Tony questioned glancing around.

"Here," came a robotic voice. Tony jumped to his feet with his fist raised when he noticed a pair of bright red eyes staring at him. As the figure approached though Tony began to relax, especially since the robot held his purple Chaos Emerald. "Oh, it's just you Omega…" Tony said relaxing. Omega lowered his hand to reveal the emerald to Tony, which he happily accepted. In his other hand he held Tony's sword. Tony also accepted his weapon.

"_You had me freaken worried kid. That darkness was too much for you to handle, like Omega and I said!_" Tony cringed at his protector's volume. "_But lucky you help was sent out,"_

"Who, Omega?" Tony questioned looking at the bot.

"It was not I," he responded.

"Alright, we should be good," a voice had come from outside the warehouse. Suddenly two boys a little older then Tony enter the dark warehouse. In the pitch blackness it was easy to see the Chaos Emeralds they held shining in the dark. "No one knows where we are…for now,"

"Yeah," said the slightly shorter kid. "With these glowing beacons we're bound to be found out,"

"That is if they don't tear apart the city first," the kid with white greyish hair said. They both turned to see Tony looking at them. "Well, look who's up,"

"Who are you two?" Tony asked defensively.

"The guys who saved you,"

Tony looked taken aback.

"Sorry about my friend here," The black kid stated. "I'm Miles, and this is Cinos. We're the carriers of Sonic and Shadow,"

"_Glad you guys are okay,"_ Sonic stated.

"_Next time, don't be so brash," _Shadow scolded.

"You two saved me?" Tony questioned in disbelief.

"Why you say it like that?" Cinos questioned.

"Well aside from the fact that I have way more abilities then you two put together, I'd say you guys caught me on an off day,"

"Or your just not as great as you think," Cinos challenged.

"Well, lets put this aside," Miles said standing in between them.

"_Ya know Sonic, my carrier wasn't at his best when he fought you guys. I'd have to agree with Tony_," Knuckles said throwing in his two cents.

"_I disagree, since we were pulling back, as best we could and he was still knocked out for a few hours," _Sonic stated proudly.

"Really guys, do we have to do this now?" Miles questioned.

"I think short stuff here wants to prove he's more then what he really is. I say bring it!" Cinos questioned as electricity danced around his fist.

"_Cinos we don't have time for this,"_ Shadow said.

"I agree with Shadow," Miles said pushing Cinos away. Miles returned his attention to Tony. "Listen, we're not your enemies so no need for hostilities,"

"Hostilities?" Tony questioned with a curious look in his eyes. "Oh no, I'm not hostile, I just don't think that much of you guys,"

"Oh, is that all…" Miles said with narrowed eyebrows.

"You want I could show you how I really fight," Tony smirked.

"And to think I thought I wouldn't ever have another chance to beat the snot out of you, slowpoke," Miles retorted.

"Hey!" Tony exclaimed now glaring at Miles.

"_Rivalries aside,"_ Shadow began again recapturing everyone's attention. "_Let's not forget we have people to save, and a city to rescue,"_

"I don't know…" Tony stated unsure. "I'm not the save the day type…besides this city is done for. I say lets try escaping,"

"I am inclined to agree," Omega stated. "My mission was to try and stifle the destruction of Empire City and rescue it's inhabitants. However, this mission is too great for I or any of you to handle. Our best course of action would be a tactical retreat,"

"_I am not for running away, especially when so many people need us_," Sonic stated firmly.

"I agree with Sonic, we gotta at least try. Omega and Tony couldn't save the city themselves, so let Cinos and I help and see how that goes," Miles encouraged.

"I doubt our chances would be any better," Omega stated. "Even with Shadow here, the mass of people are growing stronger as more and more dark energy converge here since the population is so dense. We cannot battle a whole city without harming the inhabitants as so sternly stated by Commander Tower. Therefore the only course of action is to fall back,"

"_That's one opinion…_" Shadow stated.

"_But I say we can save these people. See, Mephiles' monsters are in short supply here, but Dark Gaia's aren't. We have three Chaos Emeralds here, I'm sure we can shine a little light on the situation,"_ Sonic encouraged.

"What's that gonna do?" Tony asked.

"Ah that's right, back in Central City!" Miles exclaimed snapping his fingers. "These guys were possessed by Dark Gaia, but when I shined my emerald on them they were expelled just like that. I think we can do the same thing here, just on a larger scale,"

"_Yes, in theory that might just work_," Shadow agreed.

"And with the monsters expelled we won't have to hold back anymore," Cinos smirked understanding the plan.

"Well you guys have fun with that, I'm gone," Tony said as he began walking toward the exit. "I don't see why we have to try so hard to save one city when the whole planet is plunged in this darkness. Makes no sense especially if you're gonna do this everywhere ya go. By next week it'll be just as bad if not worse,"

"Well it's better the city revert back to it next week then it not even making it another day. Besides we can do this, I know we can," Miles said as breezed over behind Tony and yanking on one of his horns earning a sharp cry of pain. "Oh these are real,"

"Yes, now back off!" Tony sharply turned around to swing a spiked fist, but luckily Miles's reflexes saved him from injury as he jumped back. "It's crazy, stupid, and pointless,"

"Is that what you think?" Miles asked.

"It's what I know, so try touching me again and you're gonna need a hospital," Tony threatened.

"How about you stop being such a brat and just help out,"

"Look!" Tony pointed to the emerald on his backpack. "That's proof enough that we're fighting for the same thing. I choose not to get into pointless fights just for a temporary fix,"

"Then let's work to making it permanent,"

"_Boy, Knuckles' Carrier is as hard headed as he is. This is gonna be tough…_" Sonic muttered.

"_He does have a point though kid. We'd be wasting time trying to save just this city. If that was the plan then why not do that everywhere, we can't because we're running out of time. I can feel the planet slipping into complete and utter darkness, and it won't last much longer. Our goal is to gather up the Carriers, beat Mephiles, and restore light to the planet,"_ Knuckles explained.

"That'd be great, one problem, planet might be restored but the human race and every living thing on Earth has become an endangered species in the process. If you're in such a rush fine, help us end this quick,"

"I'm just not the hero type…" Tony admitted honestly.

"Well rule one, make sure there's an actual reason to save the planet. Why save the planet when there are only gonna be like 10 people left? We just can't let it all fall apart around us,"

"…What about you Omega?" Tony asked the machine.

"The plan is logical," he said simply.

"Like you said Tony, the proof is right there," Miles said pointing at Tony's Chaos Emerald. "The fact you have that shows you can be a hero, so let's go save some people alright?" Miles asked extending his hand. Tony thought for a moment then extended his hand to shake.

"Alright, I'm in," He said as he grabbed Miles's hand to shake. Then he used his superior strength to jerk Miles down to his level. "But this goes south, I'm blaming you,"

"Duly noted," Miles hissed rubbing his hand after the rough handshake. "Alright-ugh," Miles held his sides as an odd sensation began overcoming him. "God, not again, this keeps getting worse…"

"Miles?" Tony questioned tilting his head. Miles took a deep breath as he relaxed.

"I'm good, just this weird Gaia energy is giving me this feeling, and I don't like it,"

"That's weird I hadn't felt anything,"

"Me either," Cinos stated with a tinge of worry on his face. "You sure you okay dude?"

"I'll be fine, just gotta stay focus. Now, how are we gonna do this?"

"_We must bait them_," Shadow stated.

"Okay, sounds easy enough," Cinos stated.

"Well the way I see it, we can take them out one at a time, or try taking them all on at once," Miles suggested.

"_Since we don't have lot of time to be wasted on this we should probably just try rounding them all up,"_ Knuckles said.

"Agreed," Omega stated. The robot turned and began trotting over to the exit of the warehouse. "I shall map out the current area, and pinpoint all targets to achieve maximum effectiveness,"

"Good idea, with Omega tracking down these guys it'll be that much easier," Cinos said.

"Alright, we'll wait for Omega to come back and then move out," Miles said as he reached into his pocket. He remembered that Sol had a little issue on her head so he decided to check and make sure was okay. He blushed at his own thoughts, trying to assure himself he was worried about everyone else, not just Sol.

"Calling your girlfriend?" Cinos teased as he nudged Miles' arm with his elbow. Miles gave him a sideways glare and jerked to the side.

"They had some issues on their end too so I'm just making sure they're alright," Miles justified.

"_Yeah, right…_" Shadow muttered surprisingly making Miles' face flush a bit at the hedgehog's statement and making Cinos laugh harder. Miles decided to ignore them completely as he pressed a few buttons and waited for the connection. It took a while, but eventually someone did answer.

"Hello…" Sol said rather quietly.

"I catch you at a bad time?" Miles asked with a raised with a raised eyebrow. He couldn't be sure but he saw a lot of movement in the background.

"No, I can talk, what's up?"

"Well I just wanted to make sure you guys were okay, I mean you had got ambushed too, and you hadn't called back,"

"Sorry, we just got a bit distracted, plus we got a few more carriers with us,"

"Really?"

"Yeah, their these guys named Will, Kitt, and Dakota,"

"But call me DJ," came a voice from the background in a huff.

"Yeah, Dakota goes by DJ. Anyway, we got invited to Mogul's little oasis of peace, so we're just having a pretty stellar time here,"

"Are you serious, you're taking a phone call now of all times!" Andrea's voice called out.

"Uh, are you sure things are going okay?" Miles asked again.

"They couldn't be better, that was just Andy getting upset that I'm ignoring her again,"

"Okay…" Miles trailed off. "Listen, we already found the carrier here, he's a kid named Tony," ("Hey you're not that much older than me!" Tony exclaimed) "We got him back on the level, and now we're gonna see if we can rescue the people in Empire City. Once we're done we're gonna head over there to back you up, okay?"

"Take your time," Sol said with a smile, which was not a normal thing to see. Miles seemed to freeze for a moment unsure if he should hang up or not. Finally, the device did it for him since she hung up first.

"You okay?" Cinos questioned Miles.

"Uh, fine, just fine," Miles said pocketing the device.

"Come on Sonic, Miles totally digs Sol, you can tell us," Cinos said knowing that the connection that Sonic had with Miles enables the hedgehog to know exactly what Miles is feeling.

"_Nope, you won't see me airing anyone's dirty laundry, unless it's knucklehead over there,_" Sonic said.

"_HEY!_" Knuckles growled.

"_Besides, she was clearly in the middle of a fight,"_ Shadow commented.

"But she still answered, so what does that mean?"

"Duh, the chick digs you back," Tony stated with a raised eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to be better at this, I mean after all you're so much older?"

"I'm only fifteen, so what are you ten?"

"Twelve actually,"

"Big diff-," Miles cut himself off as he once again experienced the strange sensation flowing through his body again. "This again…" he moaned. However, the sensation quickly began to escalate in intensity as it turned into a burning sensation. It actually brought Miles down to his knees as he grabbed his sides.

"_T-this feeling…i-its just like…"_ Sonic also seemed to be suffering from the sensation as well, as his voice staggers. Cinos and Tony hurry over to Miles' side. Cinos crouches down to place a hand on Miles' shoulder.

"Dude, what's up?" Cinos asked giving a little shake. However, all he got in return was a low growl. He also noticed this strange dark energy began to gather around him that made Cinos jerk his hand back.

"Something odd is happening to him," Tony said with his arms crossed. Miles' Chaos Emerald began glowing as a dark blue aura poured out of it. It slowly began consuming Miles' body. For a spilt second it took the form of a giant werewolf looking hedgehog, and then Miles' irises suddenly sharpened. Once that had passed let out a loud roar that came from the throat. As he relaxed he took a few staggered breaths then stood back up to his feet with the strange aura still around his body.

"_Well this is certainly familiar…_" Sonic said, but his voice sounded different. It sounded deeper, and much edgier.

"What happened?" Miles asked with his voice also a bit deeper.

"_Dark Gaia energy, that's what did this to me last time,"_ Sonic stated with a huff. "_I guess the upside for you is you don't look different only sound different_,"

"I don't get it, what happened, and why do I feel so…weird?" Tony's eyes shifted to the side.

"We'll have to find out later, we have company," Tony stated. No sooner did those words leave his mouth did the entrance to the warehouse gave way to a large collection of people, all with bloodlust in their eyes. All three boys quickly about faced to look at the crowd. "This isn't good, where's Omega?"

"We can track him using this," Miles stated holding up the handheld. "Let's just get these guys out of the way real quick and get to Omega,"

"Alrighty then," Cinos said cracking his knuckles.

"Should be fun," Tony said in agreement. The three boys rushed forward, and then Miles instantly realized he wasn't in the front of the pack, actually, it took a considerable amount of effort to simply keep pace with Tony let alone Cinos. Cinos and Tony did notice this pretty quickly but didn't say anything. Cinos went with a spin attack while Tony sent shockwaves through the ground caused by his fist. Miles was simply trying to figure out what was going on.

"_Okay Miles, time for a quick crash course. While like this I'm not the fastest guy around anymore, but I make up for it in other ways," _Sonic began. "_When I got like this I was known as Sonic the Werehog. I lost my speed…but I made up for it in another way…"_

Cinos and Tony were quickly pushing their way through the crowd of people, but saw that quite a few had decided to gather here. This led question to just how long Omega was gone, and how distracted were they with that one phone call? Beside those facts they decided to try out their idea on this wave first. Cinos, who was more equipped at using the light properties of the emerald, pulled it out and tossed it into the air. His Chaos Emerald let out a powerful red light that shined down on the people. In a matter of moments the people collapsed to the ground in a heap, but in their place Nightmares floated out of their bodies.

"Okay, that worked, now let's go to town on these guys!" Tony exclaimed slamming his spiked fist into the first Nightmare's jaw. Cinos followed his lead as he began spinning in with another spin dash, however a Nightmare deflected his spin right into the ground.

"Ouch, these things are a bit tougher then Mephiles' creepy crawlers," Cinos stated rubbing his head. He looked back up then quickly flipped onto his hands as a Nightmare attempted to slam him into the ground.

"_Indeed, Dark Gaia energy seems to be much more potent, which explains why Mephiles would try absorbing the power,"_ Shadow theorized.

"And failing to control it," Cinos added blasting the Nightmare with an electrical blast.

"Yeah, these creatures don't operate with the other monsters, heck they fight over territory," Tony said lifting a Nightmare overhead then throwing it into another pack.

"_Right, and don't forget to get the people out of harms way,_" Knuckles advised them. At Knuckles' words they remembered that the people were still lying on the ground unconscious. No doubt when they woke up they would be in the way.

"I'll try getting them to safety, cover me!" Cinos exclaimed using his speed to weave between the monsters. Tony threw a powerful spinning right hook that knocked several Nightmares away. Cinos began scooping people up and dropping them off at least a mile away. He continued doing this successfully moving people with Tony keeping the monsters at bay. However, it was a bit of a struggle since Tony was having a hard time checking his attacks and staying in control.

"Wow Knuckles, I can't believe how much power you have, it's tough getting a handle on it!" Tony said catching a Nightmare's fist in his hands. He then brutally snapped the arm in his grasp like a tooth pick making the creature fall apart into mere nothingness. Tony swung a backhand that hit a Nightmare, but also almost hit Cinos had he not slid under it.

"Careful!" Cinos called as a person was in his arms. Tony muttered a quick sorry as he tried to regain himself, but it was tough with such a heavy amount of monsters. There could've been like thirty easy.

"I could really use a hand!" Tony growled as he crossed his arms to absorb the impact of a punch that made his feet sink into the pavement.

"A little busy with civilians!" Cinos called back while holding a girl bridal style and leaping over a lunging Nightmare. Suddenly, a fist came out of nowhere that plowed through the Nightmares, and dispersing them with ease. Upon noticing this occurrence both boys turned to see Miles with a bedazzled look.

"Wow, they do stretch," Miles gasped in awe.

"_Among other things…"_ Sonic said. Miles dived out into the crowd. He noticed the Nightmare surrounding Tony so he slammed his hands into the ground so hard the shockwave struck like a powerful blast that knocked away the creatures. He followed through with an uppercut into another's jaw and then swung around swing a roundhouse kick. Miles noticed that his blows seemed much more effective to the creatures now then at Central City.

"Alright, about time you came to help," Tony said swinging his fist for a haymaker laced with flames on his fist.

"Sorry, new set of rules I have to get used to now," Miles flipped forward cupping his hands as he brought them down crushing a nightmare into mere energy which his body absorbed. "I think I get why this is happening to me,"

"Isn't it cause your linked with Sonic, and whatever he can do or he can become so can you in vice versa?" Tony questioned catching a Nightmare's fist.

"Normally, but this something else, maybe my bond with Sonic is too strong," Miles wondered as he slammed chaos energy spiked cleats into a Nightmare's skull.

"It can be too strong?" Tony questioned slamming a lightning charged fist into a Nightmare's gut.

"_Maybe…I mean Tikal told us that you guys shouldn't rely too much on our powers. I mean, if it comes to a point to where you guys can use our powers better then we can then the lines that separate who we are separately might blur a little bit," _Knuckles said.

"That's a good point," Tony said.

"_Make analysis later, pummel this guys into the dirt now,_" Sonic said.

"Agreed," Miles said slashing apart a Nightmare with his Chaos energy claws. He always wondered what super strength felt like, and now that he does, boy does it feel weird. He liked the feeling, but simply throwing muscle around was kinda boring. He saw the door down by his feet, so he bent down to pick it up hoisting it over his head. He was surprised with how light it was considering only a few moments ago he struggled pushing the giant door. He gave it a hard toss to take out a whole mess of Nightmare.

"Will these things never end?" Cinos groaned scooping up the last of the civilian.

"Drop off that last civilian and then get back here to do just that," Miles said while stretching out his arm to perform a spinning back hand strike. Cinos nods then takes off once again. "That is if anything is left for him when he gets back,"

"You seem eager for a fight," Tony said.

"Just eager to end it," he responded expanding his fist and raising them into the air. Then he performed an earth shaking technique that slammed his fist into the ground at rapid speed and taking out any Nightmare that got too close. In a moment's notice the fight was over and there was only one Nightmare left. Tony did the honors of blasting it to pieces with lightning.

"Okay, let's-and you got you em all," Cinos said very anticlimactically.

"Sorry about that," Miles said.

"You kinda almost crushed me there," Tony gripped.

"I know," Miles said simply and with indifference. Tony huffed at him with narrowed eyes. "We should go find Omega and figure out where he went. Are those civilians safe Cinos?"

"Should be, I stuck them in a hotel. Whenever they wake up, they should find themselves cozy,"

"Alright, let's go," Tony said with his arms crossed. Miles held up the device with Omega's signal on it. Miles lead the group as they began approaching the metropolitan portion of the city. They traveled by rooftop so to avoid attention. Miles found that he was much more agile if that was possible, and his increased strength helped since he didn't have his momentum to carry him at the moment. He hoped his speed would return though. Miles looked back at the handheld to see they were right on top of him.

"He's close," Miles said landing on another rooftop. He looked over the edge to see Omega burst from below using his jets. Omega pulled back his fist and jabbed forward. Realizing that without his speed he would not dodge the attack, Miles crossed his arms to absorb it. He was somewhat shocked to feel himself only slide back a few feet from the powerful blow. "What the heck Omega!"

"Scanners show Dark Gaia energy surrounds subject Miles," Omega said while switching out his hands for machine guns torrents.

"Wait hold on!" Cinos exclaimed as he jumped in front of Miles ushering for Omega to stop. "He's still on the level, its just a new power!"

Omega seemed distrustful, "_It's alright Omega he's still with us_," Shadow stated. At Shadow's words Omega relaxed significantly, but did not put away his one of his gun torrents.

"Sorry to sneak up on you like this, but we got ambushed back at the warehouse and wondered if you were alright," Miles said with crossed arms.

"Yeah, we were worried about a walking weapons vault," Tony said rolling his eyes.

"Scan still remains incomplete," Omega stated. The robot pointed a finger at a tall building up ahead, possibly the tallest in the city. "Best to scan from high altitude to get a better visual,"

"_Good, you hurry and do that then_," Shadow said. Then without another word Omega flies off again toward the tower.

"_We should probably go to,"_ Knuckles said. Tony sighed as he walked over to the edge of the rooftop. "_Scared?_"

"Listen, gliding isn't as easy as you think," Tony whined crossing his arms.

"_You can jump,"_

"Nah, that's for losers who can't fly," at this statement both Miles and Cinos gave him dirty looks.

"Gliding isn't flying," Cinos corrected.

"Better then hovering,"

"Let's just go," Miles said as he jumped over the edge then reached out with his stretchy chaos energy arms to grab the ledge of another building then sling shot himself forward. "Before you slowpokes get left behind,"

At this statement Cinos leaped off with the aid of his hover shoes. Still slightly apprehensive Tony jumped up and began to glide after them. The air was cold as usual but the feeling of traveling this way was both new and exciting to the boys. Miles tested out his new acrobatic capabilities with a corkscrew front flip. Then lands on an air conditioning unit then leaps off just as Cinos shoots past him. Cinos using his speed shot toward the side of a building, then jumping he began kicking off various spots until he got higher. Lastly he kicked off a water tower toward the side of the tall building then began scaling it using his hover shoes. Miles was slightly envious of how easy and cool Cinos made that look and in his mind thought he could do better, if he had his speed.

"WHOA!" came a cry behind him. As Miles turned he saw Tony still somewhat struggling with gliding and Knuckles trying his best to give instructions on how to do it properly. However, the directions were pretty poor since Knuckles claimed he never really thought about how to do it, he just did it and that was it. Tony flew past Miles who leaned out of the way and watched as Tony was careening toward the side of the building. Tony yelled out as he crossed his arms to brace for impact. Suddenly, he felt something fly past him and then suddenly an outside force collided with him making him go the opposite direction then he felt the force come to a halt. Tony opened his eyes to look up at Miles who had him under his arm.

"Jumping is for losers huh?" Miles questioned with a raised eyebrow. Tony fumed with crossed arms as Miles sat him back on his feet.

"How'd you do that, you don't have your speed to move fast enough?"

"Sling shot," Miles said simply as he gestured to the wall in front of the edge of the rooftop. Miles demonstrated by showing what he did with his stretchy arms.

"Thanks…I guess,"

"I see you haven't got a full handle on all those _abilities_ yet," Tony fumed at Miles then sharply turned his head. "Just teasing,"

"…What makes you a hero?" Tony suddenly asked turning to look up at Miles. Miles was a bit off guard for such a question.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, like you're definitely the hero type, ya know like thinking about others, saving the innocent, and all that jazz. Me, I don't think I have it in me to do all that. I mean, yeah me personally I've saved the day a couple of times here and there, but…I wouldn't say I'm a hero,"

"Ya know, you kinda sound like how I did," Miles said glancing up at the top of the tall building to see Cinos and Omega were okay. "When I started out, I had no intention of saving the day or doing anything heroic. I was trying to survive, heck I was even trying to get someone else to take this emerald from me. I didn't want to be a hero…"

"Well you are now, so how'd it happen?" Tony questioned with wondering eyes. Miles looked at him for a moment then thought back to Rosie and Mike.

"When I realized…I'm not just fighting for my survival…that I have the power to fight for those who can't…so I basically stuck with that,"

"Wow, that's cliché," Tony said turning his head with a small smirk. Suddenly, Miles grabbed Tony in a headlock and administered a noogie careful to avoid the horns on his head.

"Well being a super hero is one big cliché!" Miles exclaimed as Tony laughed while struggling out of Miles's hold.

"HAHA, okay, okay, let go of me!" Tony exclaimed. Miles finally obliged as he relaxed his hold for Tony to slip out. Tony quickly pulled away as he fixed his black hair from the messy ruffling it got. "Geez, you're crazy strong now,"

"_That was cute,"_ Sonic said with a humored tone.

"_Downright adorable,"_ Knuckles said in agreement.

"Oh now you guys get along," Tony said in annoyance.

"_Knuckles and I have our moments right, Rad Red,"_

"_You bet Boy Blue,"_

"You guys have nicknames?" Miles questioned.

"_Even ones that he may not know about," _Sonic proudly stated.

"_Wait, what was that!" _Knuckles exclaimed.

"Omega's here," Miles said cutting between the two before an argument started. Omega touched down on the ground Cinos stylishly landed next to him. However, it was a clear indication from the eyes that Shadow was the one in control. "Now what?"

"I was able to get a good scan of the entire area, and surmised that the Gaia possessed meatbags are heading our way," Omega stated.

"Which means that when they get close enough we need to let the light of our emeralds shine bright in order to get them good enough to where they lose possession of their host," Shadow explained. "I suggest Sonic and Knuckles take over the task,"

"Got it," Knuckle said already in possession of Tony's body as indicated with his purple eyes.

"Oh captain my captain," Sonic stated with a mock salute.

"Let's move into position," Shadow said then warped away presumable to the top of the same building. Sonic and Knuckles huffed in annoyance at Shadow's reluctance to include them in the transport. Sonic and Knuckles met eyes for only a moment to know how to proceed. With Sonic's speed out and Knuckles not wanting to waste his Carrier's energy by climbing the tall building, Sonic used Miles's slingshot idea, but angled it upwards. Knuckles got on Sonic's back as Sonic pulled back further. When Sonic was angled right he launched himself and Knuckles toward the skyscraper. With one somersault they switched positions. Knuckles was on collision course while Sonic hung unto him. Knuckles began gliding while Sonic rides on his back. When Knuckles touched wall chaos spiked gloved fist appeared around his hands. With this Knuckles began scaling the wall quickly with Sonic hanging on by his neck. Once close enough to the top Sonic reached an am up to grab the ledge then pulled himself and Knuckles up to meet a foot tapping Shadow.

"Don't give us that look, you coulda teleported us too," Sonic said dismissing the other hedgehog.

"Or Omega could've carried you," Shadow gestured to the robot that was floating above them. Sonic and Knuckles simply shrugged as Shadow rolled his eyes. "Lets just do this, say when Omega,"

"Affirmative," Omega complied. They then sat patiently waiting for something to happen. No one talked surprisingly since this was important to have just the right timing. Sonic looked down over the edge to see that the ground seemed to be moving.

"**That's not the ground…**" Miles corrected Sonic's thought. Upon Miles saying this he looked closer, then gulped. This was the entire city population converging on them. Basically, thousands of people who were possessed.

"Dark Gaia isn't the only one it seems," Knuckles growled looking in the opposite direction of Sonic.

"**Yeah, Mephiles' creeps are rolling in too,"** Tony said. The pack of Dark Feral were coming in fast as well with the numbers equaling that of the battle at New Mobotrobilis.

"**If we don't stop them, they'll tear those poor folk to shreds,"** Cinos said.

"Unless we pull the Nightmares out of them before Mephiles' Dark Ferals arrive," Shadow said.

"Commencing countdown to proper time of initiating attack…" Omega stated from above them. At this all three of the heroes quieted down to make sure they hear the robot as they wait for the signal. "Commence light…" Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles began getting antsy holding up their Chaos Emeralds as the crowds got closer. "NOW,"

All three heroes closed their eyes, and soon after a flash of light began emitting from each emerald. Slowly but surely, the light got bigger and bigger till it looked like one big light. The people possessed by Dark Gaia all fell to the ground as the Nightmares left them. However, these Nightmares looked different from the others seen before, and bigger.

"Great Deep Nightmares…" Sonic groaned. The light also seemed to have weakened Mephiles' monsters too.

"Light successful, now to engage enemies," Omega said diving toward the side with Mephiles' monsters. Shadow chose to go back up Omega while Sonic and Knuckles took another side.

"Team Sonic is almost complete," Sonic chimed.

"I still wonder when Tails and I agreed to that name," Knuckles said.

With Shadow and Omega they completely decimated the creatures with their sudden and ferocious attack upon them. The two more destructive members of Team Dark went to work doing what they do best. Omega began spraying lead in one direction while Shadow unleashed a barrage of Chaos Spears in the other. Together both fighters felt at home. Despite both having very cold exteriors, they clearly were caring and somewhat sympathetic, especially to the ones they call friends. Omega only truly trusts Rouge and Shadow, so if they say it's a good idea that would most likely be good enough for him. Shadow interacts with a few more others, but his core friends would be Omega and Rouge. He has no doubt that some of the others would help him if he asked, but with Rouge and Omega no asking would be needed. Plus, their the only ones who can really put up with his somewhat distant nature. Both hedgehog and robot found themselves back to back.

"Still remember Fire Rocket Formation?" Shadow questioned. If Omega could smile Shadow bet he would as the robot simply pulled back its hand to leave open an empty cannon. The creatures circled around Shadow and Omega watching for sudden moves. Shadow flipped backward into the air as Omega raised his empty arm. One feral tried to intervene but was punished by a backhand from Omega. Shadow curled up into spin mode as he landed neatly in Omega's arm. Omega jumps up with the assistance of his jets then launches Shadow at violent speed with flames lacing his quills. Shadow exploded into the ground tearing the beast limb from limb easily, while Omega let loose numerous rockets from his arsenal. "Good work Omega,"

"Formation is only at half strength without Rouge," Omega analyzed. Shadow quickly understood though Omega has no real feelings, he could still read and behave like he does. This statement clearly meant that Omega misses Rouge as well. Shadow honestly could sympathize as well.

"Let's finish this and then go find our third member," Shadow said.

On the other end of the fight Sonic and Knuckles were living up to the tag team name of Fighting Buddies. Though Sonic lacked speed at this point which did throw them both of, this also brought them closer in some ways. Sonic was the most experienced when it came to fighting these creatures so Knuckles allowed Sonic to lead the way and listened when Sonic pointed him in the right direction or warned him. Sonic used his ultimate knuckle sandwich move on a whole pack of these nasty creatures. Knuckles unleashed a Thunder Arrow from his right hand and then began battling again.

"Tony pay attention to this move cause you're gonna need it often," Knuckles instructed. Knuckles suddenly took off in a burst of speed leaving Sonic to eat his dust this time. Knuckles hopped up then began twirling like a top with his fist pointed out. Knuckles' Spiral Upper operated like a drill that plowed through Deep Nightmares easily. Sonic huffed as he performed a similar moved he called the Were-spin. Sonic and Knuckles were even having a competition to see who can get the most.

"I'm at 65 now," Sonic stated swinging a super powered fist.

"Ha, that it, I'm at 69 already!" Knuckles laughed. Sonic used his Earth Crusher move to smash numerous enemies around him.

"Oops did I say 65, I meant 74, silly me,"

"**Guys there are still thousands of these things coming!" **Miles exclaimed.

"And I'm gonna get em all!" both fighters exclaimed.

"78," Sonic said.

"80," Knuckles responded.

"90,"

"92,"

"Grr, 100!"

"105,"

"107,"

"116!" Sonic exclaimed smashing his hands into the ground to send a powerful shockwave that hit like a blast.

"120!" Knuckles exclaimed cupping his hands and launching a Deep Nightmare into a crowd and finishing them with a Thunder Arrow.

"125!" Sonic said while delivering an uppercut to one Deep Nightmare's jaw, while stepping on another with his spike cleats made of Chaos Energy.

"130!" both of them called out at the same time as Knuckles used a lamp post as a baseball bat, and Sonic spun around in a complete circle while extending his arms to do serious damage.

"Lucky you're catching me on a slow day," Sonic said.

"Destroying ¼ of Biolizard is my slow day!" Knuckles exclaimed delivering a powerful haymaker.

"Well good for you and the Biolizard's shin," Sonic responded.

"**Even with this little competition they got going on they're gonna run out of steam eventually,"** Miles said to Tony.

"**Yeah, how are we gonna get all of them, and get these people to safety," **Tony thought out loud.

"…**Wait I got it!"** Miles exclaimed. "**Mephiles doesn't have full control of Dark Gaia yet, so the monsters would probably fight each other. We wouldn't have to lift a finger, just get the people to safety,"**

"**You guys hear that?" **Tony asked Sonic and Knuckles.

"Sounds…like..a plan…" Sonic huffed as he was trying to catch his breath.

Suddenly, Shadow rushed over to them taking out a row of Deep Nightmares with a spin dash. "By now you two have noticed there are too many,"

"Yeah…we're think of letting both groups take each other out," Knuckles said.

"Omega and Cinos suggested the same thing, but we must remove the civilians,"

"Agreed, lets do that," Sonic said swinging his arm for a palm strike.

"There aren't any civilians on our side of the battlefield. Omega will hold them off while I assist in removing the people here quickly," Shadow said grabbing his Chaos Emerald.

"Shadow…" Sonic said.

"Cinos?" Shadow questioned.

"**I'm good, lets do it!**" Cinos gasped slightly breathless. Shadow was actually somewhat worried for his Carrier's well being if he did this. Was this really worth the risk? "**Come on Shadow, trust me for once. After all, I'm the carrier of the Ultimate Lifefrom,"**

Shadow smirked, "So you are…Chaos Control!" Shadow made time stop for everyone save his comrades. "Lets hurry and get these people to safety!"

At Shadow's order they moved quickly removing enemies while they had the chance, and removing people from the way. Sonic and Knuckles being the strongest carried the largest amount of people. Shadow swiftly took as many as he could while speedily moving them aside. The time would return within two minutes, and the strain it was putting on his Carrier was obvious. Shadow didn't plan on wasting a second to even catch his breath. The thought of it was kind of scary in a way. They managed to remove thousands of people out of the way of the monsters in three minutes. When time resumed an explosion sounded and a gigantic hole appeared in one of the buildings allowing Dark Ferals to pour out. The two hordes didn't recognize each other as allies as they both charged with the heroes trapped in the middle.

"**Ok…I don't wanna stay in Empire City anymore!"** Miles exclaimed.

"Damn…I've got nothing left…" Shadow muttered.

"Let's move!" Knuckles exclaimed. Sonic stretched an arm up as he grabbed Knuckles to shoot himself in the air, while Omega grabbed Shadow and they removed themselves from the battle of the monsters.

"Geez…I guess we really can't all get along," Sonic muttered looking down at them.

* * *

The monsters fought tooth and nail, and to the bitter end. Whichever side won didn't really matter since as soon as a winner was chosen, the heroes picked off the already dwindled numbers. All the people had awoken from their trances and an evacuation was being orchestrated to another location. Some went to Station Square while others decided to go to Westopilis. The heroes were thanked profusely for saving them and they also made sure each family was reunited with one another. It seemed like quite the all around victory for them.

"God, does my everything hurt…" Cinos groaned out in slight exhaustion.

"We fought an army and made sure everyone was alright, and everyone found their families. I don't think there's anything else for us to do," Tony said with his hands behind his head.

"Yeah, I'd say we're done here…" Miles said with a sigh.

"Great, let's sleep," Cinos said.

"As great as that sounds we don't have time too, we gotta get back to Capital City. Omega probably needs to reload and recharge too, and when we get back we can rest there,"

"But then we gotta go back up Sol and the others…" Cinos groaned. Suddenly, Miles' handheld began ringing. Miles groaned as he pulled it out his pocket to see the call was coming from HQ.

"Yes Commander Tower," Miles answered with closed eyes.

"You sound tired," came the voice. Miles' eyes shot open as Cinos looked over Miles shoulder to see for himself.

"Sol?" both boys gasped.

"In the flesh, we've been waiting on you guys to finish the easy assignment for a while now. When I said take your time, I didn't think you literally would,"

"H-H-How did you beat Mogul without us?" Cinos exclaimed. Sol shrugged.

"We had the chosen one with us," she responded.

"Chosen One?" Cinos and Miles wondered. However, Knuckles and Sonic instantly knew what that meant.

"_TAILS!" _They both exclaimed.

"_Hold everything, we will be right there," _Sonic said with Sonic willed Miles to hang up and give him the burning desire to hurry back to HQ.

"Wow, Sonic is really excited about this…" Miles said. With the Dark Gaia monsters gone Miles' speed returned. Glumly as they looked the four of them rushed off toward home base, and one step closer to one day seeing the sun rise.


	17. The Agents of Mayhem

_**The Wielders of Chaos part 17**_

"_**Agents of Mayhem,"**_

"_I have received confirmation that Miles and Cinos have rendezvoused with Omega. Now I need to know your status ladies…and Rob," _Came Commander Tower's voice. Currently Sol was being led along with her friends toward Mogul's citadel of tranquility. Although they were highly apprehensive they saw they had little choice. Sol brought a hand to her ear acting like she was trying to adjust her hair.

"We're on our way straight into the citadel, Casino Night Place," Sol said quietly so no one would hear her.

"_You mean to tell me you haven't arrived yet?"_

"Cut us some slack, we're up against a demi-god here. He's got innocent people under his control we had to play it his way for the time being,"

"_You're allowing him to call the shots? You realize you've given up what little advantages you had,"_

"Please, I don't think we honestly had any to begin with besides numbers. We found three more Carriers, well three people one emerald, so that should help even things out a bit. I'll be sure to let you know if anything happens," and with that she ended the connection.

Commander Tower sighed as he shook his head. "Toldja you shouldn't have sent a bunch of rookies in," said a girl from behind Tower. She was clearly quite young, maybe around the age of the other Carriers as well. "I coulda handled this myself,"

"You're a little too confident with yourself. Besides I wanted to see what these guys could do,"

"Get caught it seems,"

"Well, I suppose sending you out now wouldn't be a bad idea,"

"I'll get my work clothes on and head out," she said as she turned to leave there was a slight glow coming from her belt.

Back with Sol and her group they were entering the zone's walls. The zone was surrounded by what appeared to be a giant dome. The dome was in the shape of an elephant's head, or more appropriately a mammoth's. They entered underneath the trunk and into the mouth. Once entering the deeper into the dome they all can see what appeared to be a casino themed city. It has dazzling lights every which way one would look. From billboards advertising things, to shining lights revealing casino, or themed pictures of people or names. It was a little overwhelming especially with the jazzy music playing quite loudly all around them. The streets were made of what appeared to be golden concrete of some sort. Oddly enough, and the vegetation of course was unnatural, but one wouldn't be able to tell until up close. Up on the roof of the dome shined a false full moon that looked shockingly real, but nothing more than a construct made by Mongul.

"Amazed?" Mongul asked with a hint of superiority in his voice.

"This place is…wow…" Will said looking over the city with wonder.

"_Mongul's really outdone himself with this place," _Vector admitted.

"_I don't get it…"_ Charmy muttered.

"Probably because you're too young to understand the joys of gambling Charmy," Will smirked.

"_And you do?"_

"Well, we all have our secrets…"

"Whatever the case," Kitt said drawing everyone's attention. "We must watch our steps,"

"I agree," Sol said nodding to what Kitt said.

"Now, there is no need to be so cautious…" came Mongul's voice, but this time it sounded like he was in person. Everyone looked up to a bright flash of green light. Shortly after the light faded the giant Mammoth Mongul stood there. He wore a white suit, and a wooden cane. He stood a somewhat frightening 9ft tall. He was also quite large too, but it was expected since he is a Mammoth. His tusk shined brightly, just like the rings on his fingers. He stared them all down with an obvious smirk of superiority. And they all knew why, shining in the top of his exposed chest is the yellow Chaos Emerald. With that they knew Mongul's powers were godlike. "Here is your chance you know," Mongul stated with such an obvious smirk. "You can take me down right here. You outnumber me, and in case you hadn't noticed my guards no longer have you surrounded. Your chance to complete your mission and leave is right in front of you,"

They all glared at Mongul. Sol's fist alight with flames however Kitt quickly shoots his arm up in front of her halting her from doing anything. At this she powers down as did everyone else at the ninja's motion. They wanted to take the mammoth up on his offer. However, the obvious fact that this guy had them outclassed in more ways than one kept nagging at them. In a fist fight they would destroy Mongul, however in terms of raw power, he had them beat. Plus, they were on his turf meaning his terms. They would take him, but not yet. Mammoth Mongul seemed rather pleased.

"Despite your childish forms, I can see you hold a bit of common sense. Knowing when to strike is a very virtuous trait to have. It will do you little good however. I command everything in this place. Everything that you see, everyone you see, and everywhere you look. I have control and absolute power here. No one will disturb my oasis and until I deem the time worthy I shall take back the planet as well,"

"Well now what?" Andrea asked dispelling her hammer.

"You are my guest. I had a meal prepared for your arrival so that you can hear me out on my offer," Mammoth Mongul snapped his fingers and suddenly the entire group vanished. They then reappeared in a giant banquet hall. There was a gigantic sized chandelier that hung over the long table with a white cloth draped over it. Each seat had fancy pieces of silverware and fine china in front of them with wine glasses. Mongul sat down at the head of the table, and begrudgingly the Carriers sat as well. Mongul snapped his fingers again and suddenly robots appeared into the room caring dishes with extravagant foods. From baked turkey, to pies, potato salad, cornbread dressing, lasagna on fettuccini noodles, and others. The Carriers were rightfully blown away with the care and vastness of the food. "Eat. I wish to fill your stomachs as well as your minds,"

"You don't gotta tell me twice!" Will exclaimed as he immediately indulged into the food. DJ was a little bit more skeptic though as he poked the food and gave it a small sniff.

"_With all his power you think he would go to the trouble of poisoning you guys?_" Vector said which did raise a fair point.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," DJ muttered as he began to eat as well.

"What is it you want to say to us Mongul?" Rob asked getting straight to the point. Mongul looked everyone over briefly before his eyes fell on Rob. He seemed to frown at him for some unknown reason but quickly straightened up into a more friendly disposition.

"Well my boy I want to be honest with you. As powerful as I am, Mephiles is even stronger. It is a baffling realization that I've come to and am not proud to admit. And he is an opponent I cannot wait out either, leaving me in a very annoying position. I have no choice but to try and eradicate him. It must be soon, he is growing stronger and stronger as time passes, and soon…even my Master Mammoth Mongul state will be nothing to him,"

"_So are you suggesting a team up?_" Amy asked.

"Of a sort my dear. You see, I ask you children to relinquish your Chaos Emeralds to me,"

"You can forget it," Sol stated sternly.

"Now before you storm out I'd like you all to hear me out. I understand you all see me as the "bad guy" in this situation. And I can understand you feeling like such. If I took your emeralds, then what's to say I won't turn on you or worst do ill will towards your other friends. If anything, I am a person to my word and I do not make a habit of lying. I admit, I had earlier intentions to simply kill you and take the emeralds, but a new thought crossed my mind. None of you are Sonic the hedgehog. You all are simply playing hero, and you think that you're going too succeeded simply because you fight for good. I understand the notion children, believe me I do. However, do you really believe that you won't end up like the so called heroes you carry around in your pockets? You have seen the world's current status have you not? You must realize this is no game here, but that if you don't win everyone loses. This is not a show, and we have no extra lives to lose here. I'm trying to take away the burden from you all. This tasks, is not a tasks to put on the inexperienced youth such as yourselves. You shouldn't be troubled with such things. You should be more concerned with your future, because you are the future for mankind,"

"Pretty words Mongul," Mikaela said after the Mammoth finished. "It sounds like you might actually care too. But I know you, and I've seen the evil things you're capable of. Your words mean nothing to me,"

"I apologize for that," Mongul said solemnly. "But I must ask you all, is this something you truly wish to do. This is not a past time, you must really want this. You must want it more so then anything," The room fell silent. "Sacrifice, that's what being a hero means children. Are you willing to make certain sacrifices to be that?" All of them were silent. "The future is not set in stone young lady. It can always be changed, and there is always a better way,"

"We'd like to think about this," Kitt stated suddenly. Eyes turned to him sharply. "I mean, this request doesn't have a time limit does it, must it be answered now?"

"I suppose that is fair. I will summon you all tomorrow and I hope you will have your answer," Mongul said as he stood up. "Enjoy your feast, and when you're done my robots will show you to your quarters," And at that the Ixis Master left the room in a huff. Immediately eyes shifted to Kitt who almost flinched under everyone's gaze.

"What is wrong with you?" Andrea exclaimed.

"Yeah, that seems a little crazy Kitt," DJ admitted calmly.

"_A little? It's completely bonkers!"_ Vector exclaimed.

"_We cannot allow Mongul to have his way. He may not be a liar, but that doesn't make him trustworthy," _Silver said sounding quite crossed.

"_Everyone relax!"_ Espio suddenly snapped. The room fell silent for a moment. "_Mongul's power is absolute here. Would it have been wise to simply reject his offer when he is in a very good position to simply take them? He's cocky, that is our advantage over him. We have till tomorrow to come up with something,"_

"Was that what you were trying to say?" Mikaela said touching Kitt's arm. Kitt jerked away awkwardly, but he managed a nod.

"Still-," Andrea began.

"You wanna argue with the ninja?" DJ challenged.

"Reason DJ and I even got this far was because of Kitt. I say we follow his and Espio's lead," Will stated as DJ nods along with him.

"Fine," Andrea said with folded arms. Rob who sat the quietest out of everyone felt rather left out. He had no emerald or partner. A part of him actually wished he did though. He felt…insignificant, and he actually wondered why he even came along. The others had all decided to head to their rooms and out of the open. Rob noticed none of them seemed to notice he wasn't following. The robots also failed to notice him still sitting there. He felt somewhat insulted at the notion, but realized his position.

He could tell this place was practically running itself. Mongul was smart, but not technologically. Rob could hack this place easy, from the tech he could tell the design was quite advanced. But in comparison to what Eggman comes up with this was nothing but caveman drawing on the walls. Rob scooted out of his chair then began wandering the halls of whatever structure they were in. Mongul was smart in not letting them know where they were or where anything is. He was not going to let them slip out so easily. He reached into his pocket to pull out his high tech gloves. He slipped it on his hand then pressed a few small buttons on the palm. It began beeping as he points his hand ever which direction. Noting the beeping was faster if he went left he followed. He noticed the halls were just as extravagant as everything else. Plush red carpet in the middle of the floor on top of a golden colored tiled, high ceilings possibly to accommodate with Mongul's height, wide hall, and bright glowing green lights on the end of torches.

"Main juncture for the data of this place should be around…here," Rob turned a corner but quickly jumped back noticing a big door with two swatbot robots standing guard. Rob could easily handle them, but feared getting discovered. He lacked a Chaos Emerald, so he had a feeling Mongul couldn't pick up on him. Rob slipped on his other glove and he looked up the wall while smiling. He activated a suction feature on his gloves and boots. He placed a hand against the wall then slowly began scaling the wall. Eventually Rob made it to the ceiling where he was hanging upside down above the Robot guards. He released his grip on the ceiling then dived down toward the unsuspecting swat bots. He touched the top of their heads and suddenly they short circuited for a moment but then stood there as if nothing happened. Rob smirks as he opens the door and scurries in. Glancing around he noted no one around and rushed over to the main computer.

"Hope that virus I put in those swat bots last long enough before their systems repair themselves," Rob said as he unsheathed a jack from his index finger and shove it into the USB port. Rob tore through the firewalls in seconds and began downloading loads of information into his personal system. Using his other hand he reached in his pocket to pull out glasses connected to a small circular device. The glasses lit up as large amounts of data began rolling down. It was going at a pace that only someone like Rob could comprehend it as he oos and awes at it. After about five minutes of this Rob deemed he had enough information and disconnected his jack from the computer. He walked over to the door, figuring his virus has worn off the machines, Rob adjusted the dial on his left glove where the laser blast came out. He pushed his hand forward and instead a peculiar wave came out instead. He opened the door then simply walked past the robots with them not noticing a thing. He smirked.

"Obtaining the robotic plans was a good idea. Readjusting their visual sensors allows me to be virtually invisible to them," Rob smiled at his own brilliant thinking. He found a secluded spot in a closet. He slips back on his shades as a holographic layout of the entire Casino Night Place pops up over his right gloved hand. Using his other hand he interacted with it by taking away the outer shell and turning it around to get a look at it. "Hmmm…this place isn't as massive as Mongul makes it seem…" Rob was able to find where he and the others ended up at. A place on the other side of the entrance to Casino Night Place. The tall structures and large dome was an illusion to how big it really was. The size could make it count as a town, not a city. They were in a large tall complex that towered over the others. He had no doubt Mongul was at the top and he placed the others…only a few floors below him. "Cocky jerk…" suddenly there was a soft knock on the door. Rob jumped so badly that a broom stick actually landed on his head and causing him to make a bunch of noise.

"Rob," came a soft voice. But Rob knew it as he creaked the door open a bit to see the image of a black suited ninja with a mask and white dreadlocks out the back of the mask. Even though he wore it, his crossed arms and clear displeased aura told Rob that he was not happy.

"What are you doing?" Kitt asked sharply.

"Uh…w-w-what are you doing?" Rob countered which Kitt rolled his eyes. He reached up to slip his mask off showing his brown skin and showing his strong jaw visage.

"Looking for you, I noticed you decided to stay at the dinner table. When I slipped away to get you, you weren't there," Kitt said with slight annoyance lingering in his voice. "Now where were you?"

"On a reconnaissance mission, since ya know I'm nothing but dead weight. I wanted to be useful,"

"I doubt your dead weight. We all have our place, and maybe yours is different from everyone else's. You must make the best of whatever is given to you,"

"Never mind that, I decided to take it myself. All the others would do that, Tails would do that,"

"Tails? You mean Sonic's little sidekick?"

"He's more than a sidekick you know. He doesn't have Sonic's power, but he has his own. I guess I'm a lot like that myself, I have to use what I have,"

"And what is it that you have?" Kitt asked as he ushered Rob to follow him down the hall.

"Blueprints to the entire Casino Night Place, and information of Mongul's robots," Rob smirked up at Kitt. Kitt glanced back at the boy with surprise in his eyes then also smirked.

"Yes, I suppose that is something,"

"You don't have your emerald on you do you?"

"No, DJ is the one who carriers it. I'm too far out of range to switch with Espio though,"

"Well good," Kitt looked down at Rob with a raised eyebrow. "Mongul could probably sense the emeralds, so it's best if we wanted to sneak around that we not have them," Kitt nods in understanding as they arrive in another hall. Kitt, using the skills he obtained as a shinobi, was able to sneak Rob and himself through the halls completely unseen by any robots or guards. After a while of quietly wondering around Kitt motioned for Rob to stop as he knocked softly on a door. Slowly, it opens to reveal a part of Will's face. He looks at Kitt then to Rob relieved then fully opens the door.

"Dude, you can't just go wandering off ya know. You know you're the only one without a partner. By the way, why are you here?" Will asked to which Kitt pushed him to the side.

"Ignore him, he tends to simply run his mouth," DJ stated calmly. "Where'd you go?"

"Did some digging, and got the blueprints to the entire Casino Night Place, and the robots. It turns out that Mongul is only a few floors above us. If we plan this right, we can totally get the drop on him and steal his emerald right from under that long nose of his,"

"Okay, that's one idea," Will said sitting on a bed as he kick his shoes off. "Or we might get killed trying to beat a Demi-god, equipped with only a few measly fighters. Where's the guy who got Sonic, shouldn't he be with us?"

"He might join us later, or he might not. Fact is we need to complete this mission tomorrow. We don't have a choice in that fact," Kitt stated simply tossing off his top shirt.

"Miles…that's the guy who got Sonic. He's really something honestly, but we can't rely on him to come to our rescue here. Sonic beat Mongul before, but he had a very important ally with him when he did," Rob said while leaning on a wall. "I have an idea of who is in that emerald Mongul has. We need to get it, because he might be the key to beating him,"

"Alright, what's the plan then?" DJ asked closing his eyes. He seemed to regret the idea as his eyes shot open quickly while shaking his head.

"We gotta hit him when he least expect it, or with his guard down. Question is how do we get that?"

"You obviously," Rob sent DJ a questioning look prompting DJ to explain. "See, each of us are Carrier of a hero. Mongul could sense us coming because of our connection with the Emeralds. There's no way we can surprise him, but you on the other hand are a different story,"

"You don't have a bond with an emerald which means Mongul wouldn't be able to sense you coming. Plus, with your layout of the building and hacking skills, you should be able to get to him without any notice," Kitt added.

"What if he gets caught though, he won't have a partner to save him?" Will asked.

"He'll have us," Kitt stated.

"_Kids part of the team weather he's a Carrier or not. We need his help here,"_ Vector agreed.

"_Yeah let's do it!" _Charmy exclaimed. Vector was thrown off a bit by this. He had felt Charmy sinking deeper and deeper into a depression. But he supposed it may've just been boredom or something. However, the ninja Espio was still an enigma to him. He still didn't understand why the ninja distanced himself so much from them spiritually. "_Hey Vector, is something the matter?_" Vector snapped out his thoughts realizing that the Emerald only reflected his feelings.

"_It's nothing. We gotta focus on our plan right now. Which is…"_

"We meet with Mongul as planned. We get him talking-," Will began.

"_Which should be the easiest thing to do," _Charmy commented with a snicker.

"Get him confident and comfortable. Then Rob here finds a way to snatch his Chaos Emerald from his chest. Once he does that, Mongul's power should decrease to a more manageable level that the rest of us can handle,"

"_Sounds half baked," _Vector said.

"I'm inclined to agree," DJ said.

"Well what do you suggest?" Will challenged.

"DJ, I think you may be of great assistance here, with your ability," Kitt stated.

"Ability?" Rob questioned as he looked at DJ who simply scratched the back of his head.

"He's referring to my seeing ability," DJ said as he fumbled with a colorful bracelet on his left wrist.

"How does it work?"

"I close my eyes and I can see energy all around me. Both organic and inorganic,"

"That's sweet!"

"What isn't sweet is I can't turn it off, I'm sure you can imagine how difficult it is to sleep, or in a city full of people and living creatures. It gets…overwhelming…"

"Oh…"

"But it might be able to help here. See my energy sight is pretty accurate when it comes to telling how strong people are, and trust me, Mongul is strong. However, I think we can use that to our advantage. Mongul is above us only a few floors. He seemed to be sitting down or something," Dakota pushes his shades over his face as he closes his eyes. The others were able to see a slight glow from under his eyelids. "I see a constant wave of powerful energy that doesn't change. Two beings, one is Mongul and the other would be the hero in the Emerald. See, from what I can tell, the relationship is very counterproductive. One moment the energy of the emerald surges and Mongul get's weaker, and the next Mongul's power increases. It's like a tug of war or something,"

"So there are moments where Mongul is weak?" Will asked.

"Yeah, weak enough that Rob here could get the drop on him,"

"Then we strike, but only when it is late. DJ, Rob is going to need you in order to know when Mongul is at his weakest,"

"I don't think that would work. Vector formed a bond with me, and through me you and Will bonded with Charmy and Espio. He'd sense me coming…"

"Why can't I go by myself?" Rob asked. At this the other three boys looked at Rob very unsurely.

"You'd have no real protection Rob. Mongul could kill you if you don't succeed," Kitt said.

"Well if one of you guys went with me, that would throw everybody else under the bus if this does fail. Where are the girls anyway?"

"Farther down the hall," Will answered him.

"I'll tell them what's up," Rob said reaching into his pocket to pull out his shades again. His gloves produced a holographic keyboard as his fingers suddenly began rapidly hitting each key with speed and accuracy. After he finished typing he dispelled the keyboard with a wave of his hand. He tapped the side of his shades and then the low light from them ceased as he put them away.

"You've got all kinds of gadgets don't ya?" Will asked.

"Loads more at my workshop in Central City, wished I had a chance to stop by there before I went on this mission though…"

"_We should rest up for when we strike,"_ Espio said.

"And when is that again?"

"I'll let you know, usually takes a while for me to sleep anyway," DJ said.

"What about communications?"

"Here," a voice said suddenly tossing in a handheld communicator device. Kitt's sharp reflexes caught the device one handed while Rob only flinched. "That should help," and then the door was closed.

"Was that-,"

"_That was Sol, what was she doing out of her room_?" Espio wondered.

"Well we have communications now,"

"So now we wait,"

And so they did. For long periods of time they waited with Rob and DJ making sure not to nod off, and Will and Kitt staying awake with them. Though they were advised to rest up as best they could, the upcoming fight was just too nerve racking. This was easily gonna be their toughest fight and they couldn't afford to not be ready. Espio had advised everyone to be calm and to relax. If not to for their own sake but for the sake of the mission. Mongul could possibly pick up on their energy like they could his, so if they weren't relaxed enough it could show they weren't really sleeping. Finally after a long while with Will and Kitt seemingly asleep DJ gave Rob a brief nod. Rob nods back as Rob tossed the communication device to him. Rob slips into the hall and softly closes the door. He takes a breath then began to move quickly. He knew he had to move fast, but quietly. He made a face at how stealth was not his strong suit, but he'd have to make the best of it.

The worst part to him was he wasn't sure if he should walk, run, or job. So he settled for a fast paced walk. He was quite fearful with the fact that Mongul could very well be aware of him wandering his halls. He shook off that small trace of fear knowing that the others wouldn't be concerned with such things, so neither should he. He knew that he can defend himself properly should it come to a confrontation. Suddenly, he stopped thinking he heard footsteps ahead of him. He catches his breath in his throat as he tried to suppress a gasp. He managed to barely control himself as he tries catching his breath. He places his back against the wall then moves accordingly. He feels a vibration in his ear, so he taps it to listen.

"Someone is approaching you from your left. Whoever they are, they are really good at hiding their presence. Careful,"

Rob assumed it may've been some type of robot with a weak life force or something that was throwing DJ's senses. Heeding his warning he supposed taking it out would be his best course of action. Rob gathered power in his right glove ready to shoot out a blue laser blast. He sharply turns a corner to point out his glove to see…no one?

"Huh?" Rob questioned. However, before he could try and touch bases with DJ on where the person was, they were already on top of him. The person dropped down on him from above pinning him to the floor with his hands behind his back. "He-," a hand was quickly placed over his mouth.

"Now, you know it's impolite to sneak up on a lady," the person cooed. Rob decided that this person was indeed female, and from how she sounded it seemed she wasn't under Mongul's control. Rob curled his legs up so that the bottoms of his boots are directly pointing toward her back. The bottom of the shoes activated as the blast slammed into the girl's back throwing her off Rob. Rob quickly got up and raised his hand at her showing his laser trained on her.

"Who are you?" Rob demanded. She began picking herself up and as she did Rob noticed something on her belt. A light blue Chaos Emerald. He immediately lowered his hand. "You're a-," He was cut off as the girl launched a powerful into his side which sent him sliding against the floor till he hit a wall. "He-," he was once again cut off by the girl placing a hand over his mouth.

"In order, my name is Kalia Ray, I'm a G.U.N. agent like you. Yes, I am also a carrier, my partner is Rouge the Bat, and I hit you cause I owed you one, now we're even," She removed her hand which Rob glared at and her for a moment as he picked himself up.

"For the record we are not even, you body slammed me into the floor,"

"If I hadn't you would've shot off a very loud and bright laser that would've gained crazy amounts of attention. Especially if you missed,"

"I don't miss," Rob muttered with crossed arms. He looked the girl over to see she's only a few inches taller than him. She has on what appeared to be some kind of stealth suit that covered her from head to toe, black elbow long gloves, and what appeared to be heels that were connected with the suit. Her face revealed her to be caucasion she has short dark brown hair but most of it is kept under a black bandana. "So, I'm guessing Tower sent you,"

"He didn't see the harm in it,"

"Well, I hope this little scuffle didn't ruin things," Rob groaned as he placed a finger to his ear. "DJ?"

"You okay Rob, I saw that you and whoever it is were fighting?"

"Were cool, she's a Carrier too,"

"Good-wait wont she give away your position?" Rob instantly paled at that.

"What's wrong?" Kalia asked.

"Mongul can sense your emerald, you just gave away our only chance to-,"

"You have noticed that I got in here without even you guys realizing that I'm here right?" she questioned incredulously. "My partner is Rough the Bat, a super spy, she can hide her presence pretty well. Even the ninja guy with you didn't figure us out, so don't worry. Mongul is still in the dark,"

Rob breathed a sigh of relief at that. "That's good, less trouble,"

"_Hey Kalia we gonna bring the kid along?" _Rouge asked from her belt. Kalia looked at Rob in wonder.

"Doesn't matter what you say really, we already came up with a plan. You can either get on board or get out the way," Rob said turning to leave.

"_Well that's quite an attitude,"_

"Don't worry Rouge, I'll make sure he doesn't get in the way," Kalia said as she hurried after Rob.

They both moved quietly down the hall with Kalia taking point. Because of her connection to Rouge she also acquired some skills as a bat. She used her sonar ability to move through the darkened halls easily and swiftly. She almost left behind Rob, but he was only able to keep pace because of the glowing gem on her hip. They moved from floor to floor using the stairs, or the hallways with an incline. Finally they made it to a room marked with Mongul's name on it. Kalia made to proceed but Rob quickly grabbed her hand.

"What are you doing?"

"Even if you can hide your presence, the emerald still gives off energy. Even if he can't sense you through this thin wall, I know he has to feel it if you're in the same room. Let me go,"

"No way, you suck at stealth that much I noticed. I can't trust you to do this,"

"You don't have a choice, talk to me DJ,"

"The next time when he's at his weakest is coming up, be ready…"

"Alright, when I strike make sure to get the others up here quick…" Rob muttered as he pressed a hand against the door despite Kalia's protest. He pushed her aside so he'd have enough room to go in blasting.

"GO!"

Rob burst through the door with both gloves out as he fired his lasers out his hands. To a startled Mongul who had a hand on his chest. He held up his hand to raise a barrier that blocked the blast.

"What is the meaning of this!"

"Oh like you didn't see this coming eventually,"

"Foolish all the same," Mongul muttered as he made a hand sign with his hands. They were covered in green energy as he unleashed a blast of energy that literally destroyed the entire floor of the building in a gigantic green blast. When the smoke cleared there was only a large pile of rubble of where the walls and ceiling had been. Mongul however stood tall and untouched from his spot as if nothing had even happened. "A fool to try and challenge me without as much as an inkling of an advantage against me," Mongul's eyes shifted to the side as he turned sharply to block a powerful roundhouse from Karlia. Suddenly, chaos energy bat wings sprung out her back as she took to the air avoiding Mongul's retaliation.

"Well, I don't suppose you'd part with that pretty gem of yours, would ya?" Karlia asked.

"I'm afraid it's simply too close to my heart child," Mongul said as his opened hand unleashed a tornado at Karlia. She was overtaken by the wind and thrown completely at its mercy. Mongul swung his arm to slam her into the floor. Mongul stood over her as he reached down to grab her emerald. However, a blast into Mongul's back threw the behemoth forward and over Karlia. The mammoth growled as he turned around to see Rob had halfway pulled himself out of the rubble he was buried under. Mammoth Mongul mashed his teeth as he made a fist to make the earth under Rob to rush up from underneath him in the form of a fist. Rob was launched in the air with a grunt. "You were especially foolish to challenge me!"

"I think you should remember that he didn't come alone!" came a voice. Suddenly, a hand reached up from under Mongul and grabbed his trunk. With a vice like grip and great strength the person pulled Mongul through the floor. From down below the sounds a great battle sounded. Rob hit the ground with a thud as he tried sitting up. He felt the presence next to him as they helped him sit up.

"You okay?"asked a voice. It took Rob a second to recognize it as he opened his eyes to see Karlia.

"Yeah…thanks…" Rob said rubbing his aching side.

"Yeah, and thanks for the save back there…" Karlia muttered softly.

"Huh, oh yeah, uh no problem," Rob said scratching the back of his head while looking away. Their conversation was cut short as Will came flying from through the ground and landing roughly next to them.

"I'd better get in there," Karlia said as she pulled out her wings again.

"_Try and circle around, get him from behind again," _Rouge suggested.

"Got it," she said flying into the hole. Rob stared after her for a moment.

"Might want to pick your mouth up," came Will's grunting voice. Rob turned to him with a slight glare. "Damn that guy is tough…"

"How's it looking?" Rob asked. In response to his question there was a flash of green light and Sol went flying through the hole Will made. However, she uprights herself to land on her feet. "Sol, you okay?"

"Damn it, my powers are useless!" Sol growled.

"_With Mongul's skill in the Ixis arts he has us outmatched. A part of me wishes that Sonic and Miles were here. They would have an idea on how to deal with them since they took down Ixis Naugus," _Blaze stated.

"We just have to outsmart him," Rob said climbing to his feet.

"How?" both carriers asked him. Rob began to think for a moment then snapped his fingers with realization.

Down below the other carriers were fighting their best to overpower Mongul but it was proving to be too much for them. Mongul waved his cane to unleash a mighty wind to blow away Kitt, Andrea, and Karlia. Mongul raised a rock wall to block Mikaela's path to him. However DJ smashed it to pieces and with the pieces Mikaela launched the pieces at Mongul. He raised a barrier blocking the rubble and the attacks by DJ. Seeing the battle as a losing one the heroes all unanimously decided to take over.

"You all think this change of ownership will change the course of this fight?" Mongul jived.

"Boy, I'd never thought I'd see the day where we'd fight someone who talks more than Sonic," Vector groaned slamming his fist against the powerful barrier.

"Well sweety, we're living it right now, and I don't like it," Rouge groaned as she performed an axe kick on another portion of the bubble.

"Come on and fight us for real Mongul!" Silver exclaimed placing pressure on the bubble.

"As you wish boy," Mongul's Chaos Emerald began glowing drawing out even more power than before.

"Now why would you say that?" Amy groaned.

"RAGH!" Mongul growled as a wave of intense chaotic energy came rushing at everyone taking out another floor of the building. Mongul gasped as he gripped the emerald at his chest. "Curesed pup…his interference with my power is growing tiresome…"

"Then allow us to take it off your hands for you," came a reply from above. Mongul only had a second to look before Blaze and Charmy dive bombed him. Blaze grabbed one of Mongul's arms and pulled back, and Charmy grabbed the other to pull it back too. Mongul's weakened state would only last a few moments though for him to be so open. "Now Rob!"

Rob came down to plant his feet on Mongul's chest as he reached for the emerald. Mongul struggled as pure energy began circulating around him and the emerald. Rob gripped the Emerald tightly though it gave him a powerful surge of power that he felt was killing him. With one quick yank Rob pulled the emerald out which caused a massive surge of power that scattered all the heroes. This time the entire building was brought down by the incredible surge of pure energy.

"Ugh…" Vector groaned in pain as he felt DJ's body racked with great amounts of pain. He could hardly move. "How did we-?" His question was cut off as he noticed Silver while barely standing had raised a forcefield around them. Silver brought them down to the ground then collapsed with exhaustion. Espio was the second to come around as he looked around for a moment.

"What happened?" the chameleon asked.

"Don't know, but…whoa…" Vector gasped as he saw Mongul gasping as he was on the ground clutching his chest. The top part of his suit was scorched as he sat up.

"You brats…you have only just seen the surface of my vast abilities," Mongul growled.

"Hey I would've thought that was my line," came a voice above him. Mongul looked up and his face paled. Rob was floating in the air with his golden Chaos Emerald in his hand. The most striking features are his sky blue eyes and red cape.

"How-?"

"All that power you were feeding off me, turns out I was feeding off you. Now, I'm afraid your wrath will have to wait for another day,"

"Curse you boy!" Mongul rose to his feet. With the power of Turbo Tails Mongul was no match. He was overwhelmed by the walloping force that crushed him straight into the ground. Turbo Tails then raised his hand to unleash a powerful wave of energy that broke the control Mongul had placed on every person who had taken refuge in his Casino Night Place.

"Guys the kids got a partner now," Esipo said.

"TAILS!" Amy exclaimed as she rushed over to the cape wearing hero. She wrapped her arms around him.

"Hi Amy!" Tails exclaimed hugging her back. "Oh wow, I really missed you guys, and thanks for coming to my rescue," Tail chuckled a little. "And for bringing my carrier along with you. I was a little preoccupied as you can tell,"

"**Wow, I can't believe it, I'm actually an official Carrier now!"** Rob exclaimed thrilled.

"It's nice to meet you, my name is Miles Prower, but my friends call me Tails,"

"**Nice to finally meet you Tails, my names Rob. Ya know it's funny, the guy who got Sonic is actually named Miles,"**

"Hey that is funny," Tails said scratching the back of his head.

"Well when you're done getting over the funny coincidences, ya think we can get the heck outta here already?" Rouge questioned impatiently.

"Sure, I've pretty much reverse Mongul's damage, and he's no real threat to us now. We should go…where exactly?"

"Central City, that's where the G.U.N. headquarters is,"

"Alright, let's head there!" Turbo Tails said excitedly.

"Yeah, but some of us are in pretty rough shape to be moved," Blaze said as she dragged herself over holding her arm.

"I can help with that," Turbo Tails said raising a hand. With a brief wave of his hand energy flowed all around them healing all their injuries.

"Whew I'm better!" Charmy said rising off the ground and fluttering around.

"**Wow, all this power, I got half a mind that we go take on Mephiles right now**!" Rob exclaimed.

"This is only temporary though…" Tail explained.

"**It always is," **Will groaned.

"**Whatever the case, the people are free, we should send them on their way and head back to base**," Karlia said.

"**Agreed,"** DJ said.

So that's just what they did. With the remaining power of Turbo Tails, the Carriers were able to get the people of the citadel to pay attention to them long enough to explain their situation. Since the city was a functioning society despite Mongul's arrogance it would be a safe place for the people and their families. Mongul was sealed underground held together by an incantation of his own design. Once sealed there the heroes soon departed. Turbo Tails' powers ran dry and plus Rob was about to succumb to total exhaustion. There was helicopter parked out farther from the city by Karlia. She piloted the heroes back towards the safety of Capital City, and G.U.N. headquarters. They met with Commnader Tower for a quick debriefing of their mission and reported that new carriers they had met during their mission.

"Well, let's see…1…2..3…4…5…wow, we got all seven Chaos Emeralds!" Rob exclaimed excitedly.

"But we only have two Sol Emeralds," Sol pointed out these two belonging to her and Mikaela. "We're going to need the rest of the Carriers from my world,"

"Well what's taking them so long to get here?" Andrea asked.

"_The others were…for lack of a better term, less compatible then Sol and I. We were the best and most well adjusted to each other,"_ Blaze explained.

"_Hey, Mikaela came here not long after you did, we just…couldn't really home in on anyone yet…"_ Silver protested.

Blaze let out a small chuckle. "_Whatever the case, Silver and I are the only ones with Sol Emeralds. The others are still learning, and fighting to keep the darkness back as much as they can. After all, we may be battling the source of the plague here, but it touch is far beyond this world…"_

"_So…does that mean we have to go and get them?" _Silver questioned.

"They should have the capabilities to get here on their own," Sol said with her arms crossed.

"It doesn't make sense though, how are they not here yet, I'm worried…" Mikaela said with a down casted look.

"_Me too, what if they ran into trouble?_" Silver said jumping to conclusions.

"Let's not forget one of them have a god on their side," Sol said.

"But don't forget…he's still only a kid…probably the youngest one out of all of us," Mikaela argued.

"We have too much on our plate already Mikaela,"

"Well instead of listening to you two go back and forth all day why not you two just go," Will said finally annoyed.

"What?" they both questioned.

"It couldn't hurt, I mean you two are pretty powerful. Maybe they could use back up, besides, we found all seven Chaos Emeralds already,"

"Problem now is we're walking targets," Kitt said from his position against the wall. "We must be careful,"

"He's right," DJ added.

"I guess we'll run our plans by Miles and Cinos when they get back," Andrea said.

"So Sol do you think we-," Mikaela stopped as soon as she saw that Sol missing from her seat. "Where'd she go?"

"Where else, talking to her boyfriend," Andrea said with a sly smirk. "Honestly, she can't ignore him for a moment. I mean can you believe she was talking to him during the fight?"

"That's who she just had to talk to?" Will asked.

"The heart wants what the heart wants…" Mikaela said as if she was in a romantic novel.

"_Yeah, whatever_," Silver said sounding like he was rolling his eyes. Everyone got ready for their next big move as they get just a little closer to putting an end to the fight for Earth. Soon, the downfall of Mephiles is coming. However, the evil that is the Dark is not so easily vanquished. Only through sacrifice can there be gain…


	18. We Are the Wielders of Chaos!

_**Wielders of Chaos part 18**_

"_**We Are the Wielders of Chaos!"**_

"Finally we made it!" Miles gasped screeching to a halt on his heels. His team had finally arrived after what felt like forever of running on pure adrenaline and excitement that the mission was finally over. "I am going to sleep until the world ends…"

"So only a few hours?" Tony questioned.

"_First, we see where Tails is,_" Sonic stated firmly. Once again, Sonic's will was strong enough to force Miles into the G.U.N headquarters with his friends by his side.

"Numerous Chaos Signatures detected," Omega stated pointing toward a room to their left. They entered to walk into the observing deck of the training room.

"Oh hi guys!" Mikaela greeted happily with a wave.

"Hi Mikaela, how are things?"

"Not too bad, Sol and Andy are down below giving our new Carrier a crash course on fighting,"

"Oh yeah, I was wondering who the new carrier is," Miles said walking over to the glass to peer down below. He sees that it is Rob with a small orange propeller around his lower back that allowed him to fly. He weaved in between Sol, and Andy's attacks. Although he avoided most of them, it was clear he still had some learning to do about flying. "Wow, so Rob was a carrier the entire time, who'd a thought it?"

"Not us apparently," Cinos added peering down below.

"Wow, you guys just flat out ignored us," said a kid with a mop of brown hair.

"Oh, sorry, bit distracted with ya know stuff…anyway, the names Miles, this is Cinos, and our new recruit Tony,"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Will, the two silent types over there are Dakota but we call him DJ, and our personal ninja of the team Kitt. Guess, you could call us the New Team Chaotix,"

"Well it's great to meet you guys," Miles said. Lastly he turned to another girl in the room standing next to Mikaela. "And who might you be?"

"The names Kalia, I'm the carrier of Rouge,"

"_Rouge?" _Shadow stated somewhat upbeat.

"_Why Shadow, long time no see. Hello to you to Omega. I'd give you both a hug, but ya know how that goes. Wouldn't wanna make Kalia here feel awkward,"_ Rouge said.

"It's fine Rouge you can if you want to,"

"_Well sweety if you insist,"_ A bright cyan glow from her belt later changed her eye color. Shadow had also followed her lead. Rouge rushed over to grab Shadow in a tight embrace. "Whatcha standing over there for ya big lug this is a group hug," Rouge said pulling Omega over surprisingly with little resistance. Although clearly unfamiliar with the notions of a hug Omega did at least attempt which did induce some chuckles. However, one brief look from the robot silenced all that. Rouge was the first to break the embrace as she brought Omega's hand out, placed Shadow's on top of it, and then placed her two hands on the bottom and top to sandwich them in. "Awe yeah baby, Team Dark is back in business!"

"_Alright, so we got the Chaotix, Team Dark is back together again, and Team Sonic should be getting acquainted in a few moments. I think we're making good progress," _Sonic said.

"What's with all these team names?" Tony asked.

"_It's just something we did once upon a time. I guess it was just something that never went away,"_ Knuckles explained.

"What team are we on?" Tony asked somewhat excited about the idea.

"_Ugh Team… Sonic,"_

"_Now that wasn't so hard was it?_" Sonic teased.

"Why Team Sonic?"

"_Honestly…don't really know. I guess since I was the one who led the way, and Tails and Knuckles were forced to pick up the pace a little when tagging along with me. Team Sonic just kinda stuck. We kinda prided ourselves on working together,"_

"_That I can agree with," _

"_Hey guys, why not focus on what's really important?"_ Vector said making his presence known. "_Team Chaotix is the best, and you can count on us to get this job done,"_

"_Free of charge?" _Sonic gasped in mock horror.

"_Weren't not heroes for hire ya know,"_

"Well if you're all done," Commander Tower spoke commanding attention. "The training session is over, and honestly Rob isn't the only one who needs to brush up on his skills,"

"What is he saying?" Miles asked with a worried tone.

"Since the heroes have allies that they perform best with. I think it would be suitable not to change that formula as to have a better effect in combat. Those heroes were at their best in certain conditions, and you all will have to be able to do the same if you want to be truly effective. So, with that in mind you all will begin training in your specified teams. You all know how to work well with one another to an adequate extent, but you may need something a bit more. Get with your teams and hash out your training schedule,"

"Well we're the Chaotix sir, we kinda don't have any choice but to work with each other. Only one emerald between the three of us," DJ stated.

"Well then training should be quite easy for you then,"

"…yes sir…" everyone groaned.

Later afterwards Rob, Sol, and Andrea had returned from their sparring match. Sonic and Tails reunited in a great big show of brotherly affection. Sonic talking a mile a minute, and Tails somehow comprehending every word. He claimed it came from years of practice, but it was hard to imagine. Sonic and Tails had their moment and then Knuckles joined in completing the trio nicely. The three of them simply meshed perfect with each other that it was no wonder they were such an awesome team. Tails was the only person able to keep Sonic and Knuckles in line, Knuckles was the only thing able to keep Sonic and Tails grounded, and Sonic was the perfect person to keep the two cheerful and focused on the brighter side of things.

"It's really great to see you guys, I missed you so much!" Tails exclaimed wrapping his arms around Sonic and Knuckles.

"We missed you too Tails," Sonic stated happily.

"Although…it's gonna be kinda weird with you taller than me now," Knuckles muttered looking up at Tails. Rob was a foot taller than Tony.

"_It's great that your little team is finally back together Sonic,"_ Miles congratulated.

"_Yeah, hugs all around, but the guy with the mismatched eyes kinda ordered us to stick with one another," _Tony groaned.

"_Gosh I'm a carrier for a day and I'm getting bossed around and expected to just jump into the fight," _Rob whined also.

"I know what you mean, I'm not too thrilled to just jump into a fight either," Tails said crossing his arms.

"Well, that's just how things have to be," Knuckles said crossing his arms also.

"By the way guys while you're discussing this," Sol cut into their conversation. "See, there are some things back on our world that need our attention,"

"_Like?" _Miles was quick to question her.

She looked at Sonic, feeling that she was looking at Miles too and sighed. "Well…the Sol Emeralds were already together when the Darkness came to our world,"

"Although I'm not a native on Sol's dimension, I got a Sol Emerald from her world since the Chaos Emeralds were practically called for and don't really exist anymore. Anyway, I was trained to use Silver's powers in the safety of Blaze's castle home. That was practically the only safe place on the entire planet. Honestly…I am worried about the other guys…"

"_How were things when you left_?" Blaze asked.

"Well…" Mikaela said trailing off, so Silver decided to pick up on her slack.

"_We kinda had rushed off honestly. A great horde of monsters were on their way to overtake us. I don't doubt they have the ability to deal with it, well the heroes do. However, I doubt the Carriers are ready, and plus there's the Carrier of the Chaos guy…poor kid…"_

"_Chaos is on your world!?" _Amy exclaimed.

"Chaos is that water god that destroyed Station Square right?" Kalia asked.

"That's right, major damage was done. It took my super form to bring him down," Sonic explained.

"That sounds crazy…"

"It kinda was,"

"I hadn't known that Chaos was going to be used by a Carrier, I thought he has his own body,"

"Some type of complication apparently," Mikaela answered with a shrug. "Only thing I know is Chaos got stuck with a little kid who can barely control him. He's…having a tough time with it last I saw him,"

"What about Chaos?" Knuckles asked. She shrugs again.

"He doesn't talk much if at all…not really all that helpful. But at least he takes the reins when he feels like his Carrier is out of control,"

"_So why is all this coming up now?" _Miles asked.

"Well…we want to head back to our world to see how things are. Once we return we'll have even more help. With both sets of Emeralds we should be able to take on Mephiles," Sol said.

"I guess we could do that," Andrea said.

"Well, only Blaze is skilled enough to use the Sol Emeralds to travel between zones…I doubt even Shadow might be able to without some serious power or something," Sol explained. She looked at all the blank stares she was being given. "Basically only someone with a Sol Emerald can get to Blaze's world right now,"

"_When are you leaving?"_

"Soon,"

"_How soon?"_

"Like maybe a day or so, we're gonna see if we can get in contact with the others,"

"_How long will you be?"_

"Give us at least three days, a week tops. Those guys will have to iron out their flaws while when we get back here. Also, when we return we'd better have a plan of attack. I don't think my world will last long without any heroes,"

"_What if something happens how will we know when there's trouble?"_

"I guess….intuition?" she said with a shrug.

"_Well what about-,"_

"Okay Miles, turn the overprotective boyfriend shtick down a bit will ya?" Andrea teased. This made Sol blush, and shockingly enough Sonic's blue emerald turned a hint of red too. "Sol will have to leave with Makaela to check out things on their home world. Cool, we can survive a little while since we do have all seven Chaos Emeralds now,"

"No, we can't afford to stall longer than a week, ten days would be pushing it to the max," Kitt stated sternly.

"Why is that?"

"It's because we have all seven Chaos Emeralds. In the beginning we were all spread out and didn't have a chance to come in contact with one another. Now, everyone who wants all of the emeralds has a place they can go. Here in Central City,"

"He's right about that," Sol stated.

"Then let's get to work!" Miles exclaimed retaking his body. "We have some down time so why don't we do what we can to beef up defenses around here. We can't pretend that we aren't the planets last hope right now,"

"I agree," DJ stated.

"_We should probably do some scouting soon Kitt," _Espio advised to his Carrier.

"Ya know…what we really need is a name…" Will suddenly spoke up.

"A name?" Everyone there questioned.

"Yeah, like we can't just go by anything. We have a New Team Chaotix, a New Team Sonic, and a New Team Dark,"

"Don't forget us three," Andrea stated pointing to herself, Mikaela, and Sol. "We're the new Team Rose!"

"_Silver you agreed to that?_" Sonic asked.

"_I'm the only dude, I got out voted!"_ Silver whined. "_I wanted something cool Like Team Vortex, or Team Powerhouse…"_

"Geez, that's rough…" Cinos said with a chuckle, and he could sense that Shadow found humor in it too.

"Well I don't think you guys should wait any longer, the sooner you head out the sooner you can come back," Tony advised.

"Alright, we leave in an hour then," Sol said.

"Alright, and Kitt are you-," Miles cut himself off seeing the empty space to where the Ninja was. "Okay looks like he went scouting ahead of me,"

"_He shouldn't be out there alone," _Knuckles added.

"_Don't worry he can't get far without the two of us," _Vector stated as DJ stood up.

"Alright Will let's go catch up with Kitt," DJ said motioning down a hall.

"Right," Will stated as bee wings popped out his back. Then he rushed over DJ's shoulder as they both hurried after the ninja.

"Well, I'd also like to add something," Andy said raising her hand. "Since two of the members of my team are going to be gone, I think it's best I go with them,"

"What, but we need-,"

"All seven I got it already, but we won't able to make any moves without the other set of seven right?"

"Yeah that is true," Rob said nodding.

"So, might as well let me go with them, I don't wanna be on someone else's team throwing of the dynamic, and besides I like the whole three to a team thing,"

"You didn't even bothering asking if us if you could come along," Sol said with a disapproving tone. Andrea however blew it off with a wave while saying 'details, details'. Since that was settled they figured this little meeting of the Carriers was over they each broke off into their specific teams. The New Team Dark situated themselves with G.U.N being that they are ranked higher in the organization then the other teams meaning they had less grunt work to do. So this left scouting to The New Team Sonic, and the New Chaotix. The Chaotix patrolled more on the outskirts of town and Team Sonic took to the city.

Miles, Tony, and Rob were walking down the street in complete utter silence. This silence was greatly discomforting for the original members of Team Sonic, since when the three of them get together its hard to stop them from talking. The city was becoming much livelier for some reason. More people were starting to come out of their homes, some even trying to make the best of things. As more people were coming out, businesses were starting to open back up again. It was like someone gave a secret all clear that signaled for everyone to stop being afraid. Miles and Rob found it quite odd, but Tony was pretty passive of it as he walked with his hands behind his head.

"_Can somebody say something?"_ Sonic finally asked.

"What do you wants us to talk about, we were kinda lumped together because you three are so close," Miles said.

"Yeah, not that we don't like each other, we just don't know each other," Rob added.

"_Well it sounds like you guys agree on that, but it's dull with no one talking," _Knuckles added.

"I'm not one for a whole lot of conversation," Tony stated.

"_It's easy just pick a topic and talk about it like…hey the city is starting to pick back up again," _Tails mentioned.

"Yeah, he is right, I wonder why," Rob said. Miles looked around for a moment until he saw a man walking towards him holding a little girls hand.

"Um excuse me, but what's going on?"

"What's going on?" he returned the question signaling he needed more clarity.

"He means with this darkness around monsters could appear at any time, so why is everyone out and about? I remember this place looking like a ghost town only a few days ago," Rob clarified.

"Ah, well it's really hard to explain…" he began unsure. "Word started spreading around that Sonic the hedgehog is alive and he's brought in some kind of back up. There's also been word of him saving places all over the globe. Soleana, Station Square, Apotos, New Mobotrobilis, Empire City, and even that city that Mongul built was torn down. In a way, we kind of have faith that we'll see the sun again someday," the man said smiling down at his daughter.

"Daddy can we get ice cream?" she asked. The man smiled.

"Sure honey, but after dinner your mother is making something special," he said as he led her away and down the sidewalk. The three heroes watch them leave and then eyes fell on each other.

"Well, I can't believe it…" Miles said.

"_Believe it, you thought all the good stuff that we've been doing has been unnoticed. Change starts out small, but after touching so many people it can't help but catch on," _Sonic said, one could practically hear the smile in his voice. He sounded quite proud.

"We're hope," Tony stated lowly.

"_That's right kid, we've got the power to change things. We've been fighting against Mephiles' evil influence without even knowing it,"_ Knuckles stated with pure charisma.

"It must be our Chaos Emeralds…" Rob muttered looking down at his belt buckle to see where his emerald is attached.

"_That's right, the positive energy you guys give off is intensified through the Chaos Emeralds, thus creating a world changing affect. It's pretty mystical…" _Tails said happily.

"Positive feelings we give off?" Tony questioned looking at his hands.

"You're not as bad as you may think Tony," Miles stated over his shoulder as he continued walking. Tony looked at his back and then briefly met eyes with an equally puzzled Rob. They both turn to Miles then rush to catch up to him.

"Tony and I aren't really sure that our feelings can be called positive. We were just as messed up as the rest of the world,"

"I don't think that's true," Miles said in thought. "I think you guys only pretended to go along with the crowd. But honestly you didn't really feel that way, you always had that light inside of you. The feelings come from us being who we are and not losing ourselves. We stayed true to who we are weather that be good or bad was what made us special. That's what allowed the Emeralds to connect with us, because we were genuine,"

"You think so?"

"Nope, but that's what I'm going with. Sounds deep,"

"Maybe even fortune cookie deep," Tony stated with an eye roll.

"Maybe you should be a philosopher," Rob jived.

"Maybe I should…"

"That was so totally a joke,"

"I think it's a good idea," Tony stated. "Gives those poor people hope that their lives can't be nearly as bad as this guy,"

"Good point,"

"You guys are such a drag," Miles stated as he shot off in a burst of speed. Tony and Rob share a quick look with one another as they shrug. They chase after Miles using what means they could to keep up. Rob spins his tails to keep up on Miles' right, and Tony keeping up on foot, albeit barely on Miles' left as the three went charging down the street. They had to admit, doing this was pretty cool with someone by your side.

* * *

Team Dark was inside G.U.N headquarters going over mission ideas and plans for an attack. They were the only ones to know about the preliminary battle plan until they presented it to everyone else for a final verdict. Cinos at first thought it was cool to actually be ranked above everyone else, but it was quickly pointed out that Shadow wouldn't take any rank lower than his old one. The same could be said for Rouge, so their Carriers had to go up the ranks with them. Omega was indifferent to process in all honesty.

"Shouldn't we bring Miles in here too?" Cinos asked.

"No, he isn't ranked to be in on this," Commander Tower stated.

"Well yeah, but he is the leader of this little team of Carriers which we have yet to name. Will was right we do need a name,"

"_Yes, I suppose we could work on that on the side, but for now let's focus Cinos," _Shadow told his Carrier. Rouge was struck dumb with Shadow's response to the boy.

"_Wow Shadow, I've never heard you with such patience with a person before. Especially with someone like Cinos," _

"_Well we realized that we had some issues we had to work out earlier. We've come to an understanding that we both can live with,"_

"Back to the plan, do you think it'll work?" Kalia asked.

"I'm not sure, we need a proper scouting of that castle," Commander Tower growled. "We can make plans all we want, but if we don't actually know what we're charging into it won't matter,"

"_Hello…"_ Rouge called out. _"You have Team Dark back now, you don't have to rely on cameras and junk. We can record what we need through Omega, the safest and most destructive thing on the planet. Plus with Kalia and Cinos backing him up we can't lose! We can get to Mephiles's castle no problem,"_

"Hmmm…what about you kids, I'd hate for Rouge to just assume-,"

"No worries sir, we know the danger and we don't mind," Kalia stated.

"We're Team Dark, so we should start acting like it. If the original team can handle this then so can we. Right Omega?"

"The children's performance level should meet standards for this mission, I shall watch over them closely," Omega replied.

Commander Tower looked at the three of them then closed his eyes in thought. "Alright then, hurry back then. We you three gone that would mean our forces would be split in half, and we'd have to rely on Team Chaotix and Team Sonic to protect the city,"

"Yes sir!"

* * *

"Kitt!" called Will as he was flying around the outskirts of Central City. "Where the heck is he?" Will circled around for a little while till he saw DJ running in a certain direction. "DJ, did you find him?"

"Hard to tell, his energy blurs with everything else here,"

"Really, but I thought everything around here was like dying," Will muttered looking around.

"Not everything," DJ said pointing toward a bare tree. However, if one looked closely one could see a tiny green leaf growing there. "The planet is fighting back,"

"Hippie," Will huffed.

"_Yo Espio, where are you?"_ Vector called out.

"_He won't answer,"_ Charmy said in a bored tone.

"_Alright that's it, I've had it up to my neck in drama with you two. We've been stuck together in here for so long that I feel like I don't know you two anymore,"_

"_Maybe because you don't, ya know, things change!"_

"_Charmy…what's wrong with you?"_

"_Nothing…"_

"Charmy, come on, you gotta get this thing off your chest," Will encouraged. "Our link with one another is weak because you won't trust me fully. What's wrong?"

Charmy was silent for a moment, but then he spoke, "_Ya wanna know how I died?"_ he asked. DJ could feel Vector's heart sink all the way into his tail. DJ felt it and instantly felt horrible about what was about to be said. "_I died before Espio or Vector. Mephiles' monsters got me first out of everyone. No one was there for me…it took Vector and Espio hours to find what was left of me…"_ DJ could feel each word wrenching out Vector's heart as he clearly couldn't take this conversation. _"I can't trust Will cause the people I trusted wasn't there!"_

"_Charmy…I'm…Espio and I…"_

"_We would never abandon you," _came Espio's calm and collected voice despite the heavy atmosphere. They all turned to see Kitt sitting on a rock over them. He said nothing as Espio continued. _ "Vector and I assumed you would be late from all the times you'd venture off on your own. We went looking for you early like usual. We were also attacked by the monsters…when we realized the monsters were so close to where you usually go…we…we panicked…" _At this point Espio's calm and collected demeanor began to fade away. "_I tried to, we both did, to get to you…we're so sorry Charmy that we failed you when you needed us most…we are truly sorry…_

"_I had never seen Espio looking as scared as he did that day. I had never been as scared as I was that day. I mean, we were so out of it without you, the next time those things attacked, we were done. We…completely lost the will to even try fighting back. Charmy, we're sorry,"_ Vector sounded rather strong, but comforting at the same time. That must be why he was the head honcho of the Chaotix.

"_Vector…Espio…" _Charmy said in a small voice sounding like he was gonna cry.

"_I've taken a silence to you both, because of my great shame. I failed when the need to succeed was too high," _

"_Well that's dumb,"_ Vector stated quite casually. "_We're here again, we're back and ready to fight like the Chaotix again. What's better than being in the thick of it again? I realize the way we went out wasn't stylish, but we didn't go out together like we always planned it. This time, we're gonna do it right. Ya with me boys!"_

"_You bet!" Charmy exclaimed. _

"_Yes," Espio stated calmly. _

"Glad that's straightened out, now let's get back to scouting," Will said quite relieved the heavy atmosphere was gone. Suddenly, all three of them heard a loud crash from behind them farther away from the city. They looked out to see the petrified giant was now mobile again, and it looked mad. It roared out in rage as suddenly lightning struck from the dark sky suddenly energizing it. The creature was relit with flames, but an added bonus was four purple tendrils protruded from it's back and it grew another pair of arms. At this it lets out a powerful roar that shook the very ground they stood on.

"Someone better report this in," DJ stated fixing into a fighting stance.

* * *

"Alright Miles, here's another question I've been wanting to ask you, what's having Sonic's powers like?" Rob asked. The three teammates were currently sitting on the edge of a high rooftop overlooking the city. There they broke out into conversation about numerous topics. This one being the latest.

"Gee that's kinda hard to explain," Miles said leaning back on his hands as he turned his head up in thought. "Well it's like a freedom of the world being so much closer and tangible. All those places you thought would be impossible to reach becomes possible. Sonic's greatest power beyond his speed is his freedom. That freedom allows me to move and fight however I want, which is pretty cool,"

"Freedom, that's an awesome power," Tony said with an eye roll.

"Alright then Tony, what's having the powerhouse himself like?" Miles countered. At this Tony frowns and looks away making Rob and Miles look at him with curious eyes.

"It's…tedious, and kinda frustrating…"

"Really, I mean I would think it'd be really cool to have super strength," Rob stated.

"It is don't get me wrong, but it's so hard getting used to it. It's like living in a world made of cardboard. Everything is so fragile and breakable. Honestly I understand why Knuckles likes to be left alone, such great power could easily destroy someone, and he not even mean to do it…"

"_Is that why you like being alone?"_ Tails asked shocked that he never knew this about his friend.

"_In so many words give or take,"_ Knuckles said passively. _"I grew out of that stage though. I learned how to hone my power, and I'm never reckless with it either,"_

"I know he really likes Sonic though, and I understand why," Tony stated proudly. "Unlike everything else, Sonic doesn't break, which is kinda relieving in a way,"

"_Hey, no spilling private stuff!" _Knuckles yelled.

"_Is that why you guys fight all the time?" _Tails asked.

"I'm guessing that's Knuckles' part. Sonic probably just likes messing around," Miles said.

"What about you Rob, what's it like, being a Carrier and being Tails' Carrier?" Tony asked the slightly older boy.

"Hmmm…it's really great. Feeling like you're a part of something bigger then yourself. It feels so good. Plus being Tails' Carrier is awesome, imagine all this information suddenly crammed into your brain. I mean, I feel like I can outsmart Eggman any day,"

"Well then maybe you can help me with school?" Miles suggested.

"I don't work miracles pal sorry," Rob said smirking with a shrug.

"Why you-," Miles's retort was cut off by a loud roar. They all turned their attention to a behemoth that was charging toward the city. They could see the Chaotix were doing their best to fend it off, but their efforts alone were futile.

"Wow…that thing got nastier…" Miles winced at the new look the creature has now.

"Well it won't itself done will it, let's go!" Tony said leaping off the building and gliding towards it. Miles groaned at having to jump down from this height. Despite everything, he still had a fear of heights. Rob noticed this discomfort and smirked. Rob pushed off as fox tail popped out his lower back. They began to spin in a propeller fashion as he began to fly. He reached out a hand to Miles, who was surprised due to Rob's nature. After studying Rob's face of trickery he recognized the genuine offer and took Rob's hand. Rob pulled away from the building towing his added weight quite well as he flew after Tony. "Hang on," Rob warned as he switched on his rocket boots making him fly faster. Miles wooted in joy at the speed.

They both caught up to a rapidly descending Tony, so Rob reached out with his other hand to grab the younger boy's extended wrist. Tony was surprised but clearly grateful for the assist. They were within range of the Dark Titan in mere moments. Rob looked at Miles and Miles returned it with an added nod, and Rob did the same with Tony with the same response.

"Launch missile one!" Rob exclaimed turning sharply while throwing Miles. Miles was launched at twice the speed Rob was going giving an added boost to his chaos sonic spin attack. The attack hit the creature square in the face where it's nose should be. This stopped it cold as it last step was pulled back so it could regain itself. "Launch missile two!" Rob exclaimed coming in on the right side of the creature. He performed the same maneuver as he did with Miles. Tony was spinning his arm quickly in a circle to finally unleash a powerful superman punch into the beast's jaw. So powerful and effective it's head led has the rest of it went falling to the ground.

"I see what Tony means we he says he has phenomenal power…" Miles gasped.

"_While he's down let's see what we can do," _Sonic suggested. Miles agrees rushing over to the downed creature. In the sky he was covered by Will and Rob. By his side he had the speedy quick ninja, Kitt, and the two powerhouses themselves bringing up the rear.

Miles went in first leaping onto the creatures stomach as he noticed that the entire thing wasn't lit on fire. Miles saw the weak point as a jewel like item lodged into the creatures chest. It was small in comparison to it, but larger then Miles's torso. Miles rushed up the creature rushing past the flames, and dodging any attacks the jewel managed to send out as a defense mechanism. Kitt threw energized shuriken at the jewel that explodes on contact making the beat wince with pain. From above Rob sends a hailstorm of lasers on the certain point. It's at this point the Dark Titan has had enough and the jewel glows brightly unleashing a powerful wave of energy that threw off six of them away. They went flying back landing harshly on the ground. They look up to see the Dark Titan back on it's feet now glowering at them.

"What are you looking at?" Miles challenged. The beast in response breathed out a heavy fire down on them. The flame was too big, and only Miles was fast enough to get away. But he refused to leave his friends in a predicament. Luckily, a psychic shield appeared around them shielding them from the flames. Then the flames were altered from their purple state into the natural color of fire. The natural fire gathered around a person and the person launched it back at the Dark Titan.

"Sol," Miles gasped with relief.

"Aaaand Mikaela," Mikaela added for him as an afterthought.

"Don't forget the crucial member of Team Rose!" Andrea leaped up into the air. Makaela cupped her hands catching the mobian then back by her psychokinesis she launched Andrea straight at the gem in the beast's chest. She enhanced the size of her hammer then swung hard, but the gem now had a shield around it. It threw her back into the air and at the creature's mercy. One of the tendrils was launched at her while she was defenseless. However, suddenly Andrea was gone in a flash as the tendril swung at her and a missile was replaced as it severed the tendril. Everyone was quite confused by the happening.

"That was close," Cinos stated from behind them as he set Andrea down. "Lucky we were passing by and saw you needed some help,"

"Alright, group-of-people-we-have-yet-to-get-a-name-for, let's take this sucker down!" Miles exclaimed.

"Yeah!" everyone cheered in agreement. Despite everyone being there, they all broke up into their three person teams to better combat the creature from all sides while being balanced. The ones who could fly would scout for weaknesses and determine the best times to attack. The speedy ones would run interference, and the powerhouses of each team would hit it where it hurts to give everyone a chance to lay as many licks on it as possible.

"Yo Tony, ya mind!" Miles called. Tony cupped his hands as Miles step on them for Tony to launch him in the air. Miles performed a back flip for Rob to catch him.

"Miles' is in position," Rob reported.

"Alright, let's let him have it!" Kalia exclaimed.

Sol was launched into the air thanks to Mikaela's assistance. She began spinning like a top and began sucking in all of the flames that covered the creature giving away to spots that could be struck. When seeing this chance the others went to town on the creature, from physical attacks, to energy burst, and other tactics. Mikaela combined her powers with Sol and Andrea for a rocken attack. The flames were getting bigger, so knowing that Sol's limit was fast approaching she used her psychokionesis to help her control the flames. This allowed Sol to harness it and give it shape. Andrea raised her hammer high as she let out a screaming burst of power from her emerald. Her hammer grew to a ginormous size. Bigger than some buildings. She swung it around a in circle a few times and added Sol's flames on the end of it. She pulled back then swung. She hit the creature in the back and when it hit a flower formation came out of the flames. This attack completely decimated the tendrils on the creatures back taking away that advantage.

"We call that, the Flaming Rose!"

Next up was the Chaotix who all nods to one another. Their team attack consisted of DJ grabbing Will and Kitt's arms. He rushes off in a crazy burst of speed considering who he was. He launched them both like torpedos. Kitt leads with a long blade, and being that the creature was partly made of Earth they were able to puncture it right in the abdomen. The creature seemed to gasp as it fell back on it's feet.

"Sharp Torpedos, whoo!" Will exclaimed.

"_That was definitely cooler than our old one," _Charmy muttered.

"Our turn," Cinos stated as he nods to his teammates.

Omega brought forth his full arsenal, and Cinos super charged his chaos powers. Kalia, while in the air, threw an object that at the jewel. The object stuck to the shield and was not repeled. As soon as it was attached Cinos and Omega went crazy launching barrage missiles, bullets, chaos spears, chaos lances, and they both ended it by concentrating a large of energy. Omega unleashed a hidden laser in his chest, while Cinos concentrated his Chaos Blast into his palms. They both unleashed the attacks which quite literally out the beast on it butt. Kalia smirked as she pressed a button on her wrist watch and suddenly a large explosion filled the air that made the creature wail out in agony.

"Whoa…what was that?" Will asked.

"It's a kinetic bomb. It takes in kinetic energy and stores it as potential until I push this button it becomes kinetic again,"

"We call it, Chaos Boom Boom Boom," Cinos smirked.

"Seriously, that's the best ya got?" Andrea asked.

"Kinda weak," DJ agreed.

"Whatever,"

"Shield is down, destroy gem to end fight," Omega instructed.

"Alright let's do it," Miles exclaimed. Tony leaped up to grab Rob's ankle.

"H-hey, what are you doooooiiinng!" Rob's voice was tapered off as he was being swung around and around in a circle. Tony launched Rob and Miles right at the creature. Rob was disoriented but able to gather himself enough to throw Miles forward. Miles curled up into a ball as Rob turned on his rocket shoes as he kicked Miles straight at the gem. Miles harnessed the power of his gem then spun into his chaos light attack. In the blink of an eye Miles passed through the beast and landed on the other side. No one would've known he even hit until they saw the shattered gem and the creature began to fall to pieces as it collapsed behind him.

"Too cool," Miles stated.

"ALRIGHT!" everyone exclaimed overjoyed.

"Wow we first fought that thing it wasn't nearly this easy," Andrea said with wonder.

"We've all gotten stronger since then, and we had a lot of help this time around. Plus, all seven Chaos Emeralds too," Cinos pointed out with a rather mature tone.

"But pretty soon we're going our separate ways…" Mikaela pointed out sadly.

"What?" Miles asked.

"Team Dark is going on a scouting mission," Kalia stated.

"And we're going to Blaze's world," Andrea added.

"That only leaves us and the Chaotix," Miles observed.

"Yeah…"

"Oh we'll manage just fine,"

"You guys sure?" Sol asked.

"Sure I'm sure," Miles said. "After all, we are the Chaos Wielders,"

"Huh?" questioned everyone in the group.

"Chaos Wielders…" Tony muttered thinking the name over.

"It's kinda…unimaginative," DJ stated earning a glare from Miles.

"It is a bit lacking," Cinos said in a jocular tone. "But the names Shadow and I came up with aren't any better,"

"I like it," Sol said with a smile.

"You'd like his germs if he sneezed on you," Will said waving off the comment.

"Don't make me burn you," she said with a fiery glare.

"Well it fits, Chaos Wielders. We have Chaos Emeralds, wielding the powers of fallen heroes,"

"_Hey, these fallen heroes can still hear every word you guys say!_" Sonic exclaimed.

"_Well I think it's a lovely name,"_ Amy added.

"_It fits quite well for us," _Blaze agreed.

"_So that's our name now huh, Chaos Wielders,"_ Shadow griped.

"_At least you're not a guy on a team calling themselves Team Rose,"_ Silver complained for possibly the tenth time.

"_We the Chaotix approve!_" Vector spoke up for his teammates who were either talking a mile a minute or having a silent fit.

"_Well we are known for a bit of chaos every now and again. More so than believe, still it's gonna be hard to gather every gem in the world while being one. OOOO that can be my hang up!" _Rouge said thinking outloud as usual.

"_Well, never been on a time this big, but what the heck let's give it a shot,"_ Knuckles stated passively.

"_Since we're all working together and have a common goal it shouldn't matter what we call ourselves. We're still heroes, right Sonic?"_ Tails stated.

"_You bet, weather Sonic Heroes, or Chaos Wielders. This is our team, and our new home. Let's fight to destroy this plague, whatdoya say to that guys?"_ Sonic questioned.

"_**Alright, we're the CHAOS WIELDERS!" **_ Everyone exclaimed into the sky striking an iconic posse.


	19. A Brand New Assignment

_**The Wielders of Chaos part 19**_

"_**A Brand New Assignment"**_

After the battle with the giant titan monster, the carriers went about their new appointed tasks. Team Rose after a few goodbyes head out to Blaze's world in a flaming vortex that shot into the sky. No sooner had the heat died down Cinos informed everyone of Team Dark's new mission. There was some heavy disinterest in the task they were given but they vowed they'd be back and if they saw even a glimpse of Mephiles himself they'd high tail it out of there. This left Team Sonic and Team Choatix to protect Central City for whatever may come. So far a full day has passed since both teams left and everyone was starting to get anxious.

"Alright, let's try it one more time," Miles said catching his breath.

"Dude, you've been at this since yesterday, and you know you can't do it for that long," Rob advised seemingly against the idea.

"But ya gotta admit that is one sick power…whatever it is," Tony stated.

"Be better if I could control it," Miles groaned. Currently Team Sonic was in the training room. A large pile of rubble scattered around the room with Tony and Rob behind Miles. Tony was sitting down on a rather large pile of rubble while Rob stood next to him both looking at Miles anxiously.

"_Man…I regret telling you I could do this now…" _Sonic groaned.

"So how does this power work again?" Tony asked with a titled head. Miles let out a heavy sigh in annoyance.

"Rob, you try telling him I can't after the third time," Miles said as he tried to focus. Rob sighed since the task now fell on him since Tony turned to him.

"Okay, you know a little about science right, specifically physics?" Rob asked to which Tony promptly shook his head. Rob could hear Tails snickering at that response as it was to be expected by the carrier of Knuckles, barely one functioning brain between the two of them. "I thought so…alright so you know how our bodies are made of these teeny tiny elements called molecules right?" Tony nods familiar with the word. "Basically molecules are different given a certain substance, usually by how they are heated. Molecules that are packed tightly together form solids like our bodies, you follow me?" Tony slowly nods to which Rob guessed he somewhat understood. "Alright that's the gist. Thanks to Sonic, Miles is faster much more then in running speed. Everything in his body is accelerated tremendously, right down to that fast metabolism he has now," Rob scanned Tony's face to make sure the boy was still paying attention to his explanation because unlike Miles he was only doing this once. "Basically you know how we can shake our body sometimes, well on a supersonic level Miles should, theoretically, be able to vibrate a high speed enough to vibrate his molecules,"

"Okay…" Tony said scratching his head trying to absorb the explanation. "Then why have all those walls been exploding and what is Miles trying to do?"

"Miles should be able to vibrate his molecules to the point he can become intangible and able to pass through solid objects which as you stated is a cool power. However, if not controlled properly he could create a large amount of friction against a surface. You know that warm feeling you feel when you rub your hands together? Multiple you're fastest by Mach 3, and you could possibly burn the skin right off your hands with the intense heat. The residual kinetic energy left in the object could be a problem resulting the energy shattering the object Miles passes through…considering he's only gonna try this trick on inanimate objects,"

"Ooooh I get it now, so he's going to move superfast to pass through stuff, but he has to be just fast enough or he'll blow something up or cause a fire," Tony summarized. Rob sighed glad he got the basic gist of how the science worked.

"_I never knew Sonic could do that,"_ Knuckles stated.

"_Well it's kinda a risky move Sonic doesn't like to use. It feels weird and it usually burns him out. Besides when he can smash through a lot of hard substances the ability to pass through objects is a little unnecessary plus Sonic didn't like risking it since it's kinda dangerous as you can see," _Tails explained.

"_Which is why I'd really like Miles to take it easy right now since you don't know your limits quite yet," _Sonic explained to Miles worriedly his overprotectiveness of his carrier showing.

"My limits are your limits Sonic,"

"_That's not exactly how it works…" _Tails began. "_It's true you guys to have access to all of our abilities and skills. But we've had a lot of time to get used to them and master them. Like for me Rob inherited my ability fly and what little strength I had. Not much to give for me, and since he was already a smart guy its no stretch, so skill wise it shouldn't take long to get used to them. However, with really powerful guys it'll take a lot more to learn how to control all that power and so quickly. It could be dangerous Miles,"_

"I get it, I don't fully comprehend how powerful I am. But I have to try this stuff out sooner or later and later is looking a lot less likely to come," Miles said and left it at that as he closed his eyes. Any other objections fell on deaf ears as he concentrated on his hands. He began to feeling a strange tingling feeling throughout his hands signaling the vibration of his molecules. Deeming it the correct speed Miles thrust his hands forward into the steel wall in front of him. For a moment he felt his hands pass through the thick wall, and attempted to increase the speed to allow his whole body through. This jump however was much larger then he planned and he ended up super heating the metal.

"_Grab him!"_ Tails exclaimed. Tony and Rob rushed into action as Tony placed his hands on the wall able to ignore the superheated metal that was slowly beginning to melt while Rob pulled Miles back out of the wall.

"SHOOT!" Tony yelled waving his hands around trying to rid them of the burning sensation. "Wow that got hot fast!"

"Yeah…guess I….overdid it…." Miles gasped trying to catch his breath while Rob kneeled down next to him with a friendly hand on his shoulder.

"Dude, you know you could've covered yourself in superheated metal right. That would've been enough heat to burn you all the way down to the bone,"

"Yeah…." Miles gasped still trying to catch his breath. He turned his attention to a still wincing Tony. "Sorry you had to do that Tony,"

"Oh, this?" Tony questioned with the slight burns on his hands. "It's nothing I'll be fine, you should worry more about mastering that power. I mean think about what you could do to Mephiles if you used it on him,"

"Yeah I suppose…"

"Enough fooling around you three, Miles I need to speak with you," Commander Tower said in the entrance of the training room. Miles stood to his feet then stepped forward with Tony and Rob. "Alone," he said halting the two extras. They looked surprised.

"This will only take a second guys, I'll meet you back at Rob's place then we can do our rounds," Miles said to which they both nod as Tower and Miles stepped out. Miles returned his attention to the commander who motioned him to follow. "Alright Tower, what's up?"

Commander Tower gave Miles a stern stare unpleased with the tone he took with a superior. "You can choose not to accept protocol, but we both know you know what it is son. Mind yourself in how you speak,"

"Yeah sure," Miles said crossing his arms.

"I understand your distaste in me Miles, and I'm sorry with how things went. I blame myself for what happened…I'm trying to do right by them, but it's hard when you won't let me. You went so far as to run off all the way to Soleana to get away from me,"

"I knew you'd track me down,"

"Now that you've got the ability to go anywhere…I'm worried you'll choose to be somewhere else,"

"Are you calling ME a coward?" Miles said with a glare.

"When someone does nothing but run away from their problems instead of facing them because they're afraid, yes I'd say you're a coward,"

"You…" Miles growled with tight fist and stern glare. The man remained still and composed unaltered from the topic of discussion. This bothered Miles greatly to see his visage so composed and calm. "Hard for anyone to see sincerity from you when you carry so much malice toward everyone with a family,"

Commander Tower's composure seemed to falter a little giving way to some subtle showing of shock and rage. "We'll discuss this later," he said with a slight snarl. Miles gave no reply to this as he stepped forward in front the commander.

"What is it you need from me…sir?"

Though annoyed with the belated addressing, Tower proceeded. "We think we've found Dr. Eggman,"

This got Miles' attention, and from the way his emerald glowed Sonic's too. "What?" they both muttered.

"Eggman, aka Robotnick, as you know is an eccentric scientist with a knack for trying to take over the world. Clearly, Mephiles beat him to the punch,"

"Yeah, he's been really quiet,"

"_I even circled the planet a couple of times but ol' chrome dome was nowhere to be found even when I looked for him. I had thought he might've been able to help, but no one ever heard from him so I had thought Mephiles got him like my friends. Where'd ya find him?"_

"He's apparently taken up residence in the East, the Dragon Kingdom,"

"Whoa really, wouldn't that be a big culture shock to him, and plus isn't that where all those ninja clans are located?"

"Yes and yes, but sources tell us he's pretty well hidden despite there being so many well trained ninja groups there. Also, that area remains in constant flux as the ninja groups don't see eye with one another, and with Mephiles' creatures in the area it's pretty dangerous,"

"Sounds like it. Any chances of support?"

"Doubtful….The Dragon Kingdom Freedom Fighters were taken care of a while ago, and the so called King of the Free People doesn't seem around at the moment sending the entire region into chaos. If any place on this planet falls to hell first, it'll be the Dragon Kingdom,"

"Well it would've been our country if not for the Carriers going around and saving everyone also reminding them of what's important. The Dragon Kingdom has been deprived of that,"

"_Alright, so let's go hero that place up a bit and see if we can find Eggman,"_ Sonic said.

"An entire region is falling apart and you're only sending one guy?" Miles questioned.

"One guy who is equipped with someone who has saved the planet on numerous occasions," Tower responded gruffly. He turned to walk away. "Gather what things you need then meet me in the briefing room. I'll give you a few more specifics and then send you on your way," At that he walked away without another word.

"He can't be serious…" Miles muttered.

"_Sure sounded serious…"_ Sonic said adding to Miles's down cast look. "_I'm surprised they even found a trace of Eggman. I spent a solid week looking for the guy, but came up with nothing,"_

"To be fair, G.U.N has had about a year to track him down,"

"_I guess that's true too…so what are you gonna tell the guys?"_

"Don't know yet, maybe I can skip out on telling them," Miles said hopefully as he finally walked down the hall. He and Sonic continued talking on the subject the entire time as they walked to the front of the base to exit. "If I do go I don't want to leave everyone so vulnerable,"

"Vulnerable?" questioned a voice from the side. Miles perked up at the voice and turned to see the Chaotix themselves DJ, Kit, and Will. It was Will that had spoken. "What are you talking about, whose vulnerable?"

"Commander Tower is trying to send me on a solo mission half way around the world when our team is so broken up right now,"

"So, why can't you go?" DJ asked.

"Well I might be needed here. I doubt we could handle things here with just two teams, and I really doubt the city could last without…well that is to say I think it might be more difficult to-,"

"You think we can't handle things without you," Kitt said in an accusing voice rather than in a questioning one.

"No offense to you guys at all,"

"This guy, thinks just cause he has the powers of Sonic the hedgehog he's the greatest and nothing can get done without him," Will said with a slight glare while crossing his arms.

"_To be fair….that's kinda how it was when I was alive too,"_ Sonic added.

"_Oh, so we find the source of this over cocky attitude of his," _Vector accused.

"Don't be like that guys, I'm just saying I feel nervous about leaving everyone here,"

"We're perfectly capable of handling ourselves without you," Kitt said.

"I'm not saying you can't, but if you didn't recall a 50 foot monsters almost destroyed the city and it took every single one of us to bring it down. I'm positive that wasn't even Mephiles' best shot either," Miles explained.

"We could've handled that thing in all honesty. It's just with that ginormous size it got so much attention that it was impossible for you guys to not want to step in. You saw how quickly and easy it was to overpower and destroy it," Kitt explained.

"We're much more accustomed to working together than any of you guys. I bet you couldn't even take us," Will challenged.

"_Now boys, fighting among ourselves won't solve anything and we can't afford to have Miles hurt if he's going on this mission soon," _Espio said.

"Um…thanks Espio, but I doubt that would be an issue. I don't think you guys would hospitalize me…I don't even think you could for that matter,"

"I think we just need to put a few egos in check here," DJ said. "We think we can handle things without you, and you think things are better if you're here especially with the lack of the other teams,"

"Thank you voice of reason," Miles said rubbing his head. "Listen DJ I'm not trying to insult you guys are anything, it's just that-,"

"You haven't really seen us in action and don't know how well we do under pressure. I get it dude, and it be downright insulting to think you couldn't back up what you talk since you do have the powers of Sonic. So I propose a little test of skill before you head out. You against the three of us,"

"A bit unfair don't ya think?" Miles questioned.

"Maybe, but we're challenging the leader of Team Sonic, not Team Sonic itself. Sides, your friends could hop in if they want to," DJ said with a shrug.

"Yeah you're going down!" Will exclaimed to which everyone simply rolled their eyes.

"Alright, meet you guys in the training room in about thirty minutes," Miles said turning to leave. Miles rushed off in a burst of wind as he rushed off. Miles dashed down the straight since the sidewalk was becoming more and more populated with people, but no one confident to drive around just yet. "Hey Sonic, you could take the Chaotix right?" Miles asked curiously.

"_Miles I don't think you knowing that will-,"_

"In a fight who would win?" Miles asserted.

"_I'd probably dust them," _Sonic answered in his honest opinion. "_I mean don't get me wrong, those guys rock, but they aren't on the level to where they could take me,"_

"I thought so, I figure that 3 on 1 is a fair fight in this situation," Miles said.

"_You don't have to sound so sure you'll give them a pounding. Those guys have the skills of the Chaotix but they aren't them so I don't know if they can compare,"_

"Well I suppose that's one way to look at it," Miles said screeching a halt on his heels as he came to stop in front of a building. The building was wedged between two larger buildings making it seem small. It has a rounded roof and stands about two stories with a white finished coat of paint with a blue roof. On the door the sign read Rob's Workshop. Miles simply walked to the door then entered the building unannounced. Upon entering he saw no one on the first level he walked straight with stairs ascending on the left and stairs going down on the right. Miles went downstairs and came to another door. Miles opened the door and entered the room to see an expected sight. Rob was tinkering away on some new device with his Chaos Emerald on the side of the device probably Tails giving his input. Tony was his Chaos Emerald watching the TV on the other side of the room. Miles had found it quite odd how compatible the three of them were. They went from their first meeting being an awkward silence, to them knowing each other like the back of their hand and becoming great friends. Miles assumed that each of them had similar traits to the hero they carry so it wouldn't be a stretch that they were so compatible. Upon his entrance everyone turned to him.

"Hey Miles is back!" Tony exclaimed in relief as he hopped out his seat. "Finally, I'd thought you'd never get here,"

"It only took me like fifteen minutes," Miles said.

"Twenty," Rob corrected.

"Whatever, where's my jacket?" Miles questioned as his eye glanced around the room. He found his target and walked toward it to scoop it up and slip it on. He picked up a map of the world that was folded up on the side and unfolded it. Once opened fully he saw all the marks he had made. He did this when figuring out what places in the world he would like to travel too, and some suggestion made by Sonic. Upon seeing him do these things Rob and Tony share a glance before Rob lays down his tools with a sigh.

"So, where are we going?" he asked.

"Team Sonic isn't going anywhere," Miles answered. "…But I've got a mission,"

"Solo mission, what makes you so special?" Tony asked with folded arms.

"I outrank you guys," Miles answered instead of using the whole, 'I've got the hero of the planet on my hip' excuse since they doesn't usually work for them.

"So, if you're going somewhere I wanna go too,"

"I guess Tower feels that if I go there myself I can go at my own pace. The difference in time of getting there is pretty different. By myself Sonic thinks I can I make the trip in about ten minutes if I avoid the water. Probably twice that if not more if I go with someone slower,"

"So whatever it's not like you're that awesome anyway besides we don't need-" Rob placed a hand over Tony's mouth to silence him.

"Where is it you're going?" Rob asked as Tony was fidgeting under his hold despite him having the strength to tear through bone like sandpaper.

"Dragon Kingdom, G.U.N thinks they've found Eggman,"

"_Eggman, he could be helpful,"_ Tails said.

"_Or a problem, we don't need. Especially since we don't need that guy making trouble for us now of all times. I say we bring him in simply make sure he can't cause trouble we need these guys roped in," _Knuckles said.

"_We're thinking he could probably help us, I mean can't conquer the planet if there is no planet,"_ Sonic said.

"Which is fair, so I figured why not go after the guy. Good test to see if I'm capable enough to-," Miles was saying until…

"I'm going to," Rob stated. His voice demanded it and raised no question about the idea either.

"Rob I appreciate it but I can-,"

"Ignoring the fact that it's crazy dangerous over there, there is no one there that can support you and the warring Ninja clans are crazy enough but add in the monsters too. There is a personal reason,"

"Really?"

"My….My parents…they had traveled to the Dragon Kingdom a year ago. I'm sure you know it' dangerous to even walk out your house let alone go across the country. I've been wanting to get to them and see if they are there or if their safe The fact that you're traveling may give me the only chance I have to see them because when we all fight Mephiles who knows who's gonna survive. I…have to go,"

Miles hadn't the heart to tell Rob he couldn't go find his parents. Especially since he himself were missing parents of his own. Miles sighed as even Tony stopped fidgeting under Rob's hold. Seemingly both were waiting for Miles to reply to Rob's plea. Miles scratched his head in thought as he wasn't sure if he could make this deal. He and Tower aren't on good terms, and challenging his authority was something he knew was a big no-no. But the look in Rob's eyes told him that no wasn't even a possibility. Plus it wouldn't be fair to Tony to leave him behind although the extra muscle would probably be appreciated for the Chaotix.

"Dude I say you should just let him go," Tony said after removing Rob's hand since he wasn't so focused on keeping Rob quiet. At this eyes moved to Tony who looked at them both and shrugged. "I'm not dense. I get it, this is important to Rob, and Miles shouldn't be bringing anyone along with him. Tower might let it slide if it's just Rob, I'll stay behind,"

"Tony?" Rob questioned shocked that the boy who was claiming he couldn't wait fifteen minutes for Miles to get back is willing to wait a few days?

"Patience isn't my thing, but this seems real important. I won't stand in your way," Tony said looking at Rob.

"Alright then I guess that settles it. I just came to gather my things let's go guys," Miles said slinging on his backpack.

"You mean I can go with you?" Rob asked.

"You got my vote," Miles said with a thumbs up. This made Rob smirk and then he turned to Tony as he ruffled the kid's hair.

"Thanks for being so grown up about this," Rob thanked.

"Hey what can I say, someone has to be the mature one," Tony said while shrugging his shoulders.

"_Speaking of maturity, you guys wanna watch Miles duke it out with the Chaotix?" _Sonic asked.

"Duke it out? Miles what did you do?" Rob questioned with crossed arms and a stern stare.

"Nothing!" Miles exclaimed to which his two teammates looked at him unconvinced. "Nothing much…"

"_It's just a little friendly competition, what could go wrong?"_ Sonic said.

"_Not the best trust exercise Sonic," _Tails said in a scolding voice.

"_Hey it wasn't my fault!"_

"_So you didn't discourage it?"_

"_Well…I didn't really encourage it either,"_

"Well that sounds like fun to watch, right Knuckles?" Tony stated.

"_Oh yeah, can't wait to see how this plays out,"_ Knuckles said with a snicker in his tone.

Miles simply sighs as he shrugs his shoulders. He decides that he should he should probably head back to headquarters now to meet up with the Chaotix and then get final mission details from Tower. Miles allowed Rob to gather what gear he needed before they took off from his workshop moments later in a rush of speed. They arrived back at G.U.N headquarters in a matter of minutes. Miles handed his backpack to Tony as the three of them entered into the building. Miles entered the training area, while Tony and Rob went to the observation room above. Miles noticed the Chaotix simply talking amongst themselves about seemingly random topics. They turned their attention to Miles with a slight look of surprise.

"Hey, he actually showed up," Will said not hiding the hint of surprise.

"Why wouldn't I, I said I would. I'm no coward," Miles said slightly offended that thought even crossed his mind.

"Of course," Kitt said nodding.

"Well shall we get started?" DJ said cracking his knuckles.

"So, how are we doing this, a straight up brawl?" Miles asked.

"Yep, first side to surrender is the loser,"

"Okay…hardly seems fair though," Miles muttered the last part.

"Well you gotta forgive us, but Vector, Espio, and Charmy kinda told us that Sonic could pound the three of them pretty good. So you must understand we feel a little overwhelmed despite it being just you,"

"Well rest assured the feeling is mutual,"

"This should be good," Tony said with a smirk as he gazed down at the action.

Miles went first dashing head on toward the Chaotix. DJ stepped forward swinging his fist to nail Miles in the head. Miles was too fast obviously as he slid to stop underneath the punch and then swung his leg in a sweep kick that knocked DJ's feet from under him. Miles spun into an air flare narrowly avoiding ninja knives thrown by Kitt. Miles then dived to the side to avoid a dive bomb from Will who pulled up at the last moment to avoid hitting the floor. DJ came in again rushing Miles, but when he tackled Miles used his own strength against him as he redirected him toward a wall behind him. Kitt rushed in fast for close range combat. Though in terms of skill and strength Kitt was superior, however, Miles was simply too fast. Kitt struck fast with a fast chop, but blocked it with his forearm. A vertical hit nothing but air, and the responding axe yield as much success as his other strikes. Miles found himself strictly on the defensive with Kitt's high level combat skill it was hard to get in a counter attack. Miles decided to push through anyway as he shot forward in a spin dash into Kitt's gut.

"Sorry, but like I said guys, you're good but not that good," Miles said avoiding a double hammer punch from DJ by balancing on his shoulder.

"Don't be so sure Mr. cocky," Will said grabbing Miles's leg. Will took Miles into the air making him helpless. Will threw him up into the air leaving Miles to the mercy of gravity. Miles still had a slight fear of heights so this threw him for a moment, but what made it worse was the flash bang Kitt threw. It blinded Miles considerably, and since he was in the air and had not yet mastered going light speed he was vulnerable.

After this maneuver he felt someone's feet slam into his back slamming him into the floor. Still dazed he shot off in a spin dash to avoid being pin downed wherever he was. However, he was soon brought to a halt by a grunt and knocked right out of his spin mode with a strong punch. With the flash bang and the heavy punch Miles was feeling absolutely out of it as he couldn't keep his mind concentrated on anything. He had managed to climb to his feet, but was then assaulted by a flurry of attacks. Each strike tactical in taking him down bit by bit and a final palm strike into his jaw to throw him down to the floor.

"Yikes…that had to hurt…" Tony muttered wincing with Rob.

"We're not exactly the same Chaotix that Sonic could take down so easily," DJ said with Will and Kitt by his side as they stood over Miles who was on the floor.

"Yeah, I admit…ya got me,"

"You won't be moving very fast right now, especially with the pressure points I struck," Kitt said.

"Oh, I recover pretty quick, but even in this state you won't be able to keep up with me,"

"You'll be much more manageable now,"

"Think so huh, how about this, Chaos Control!" Suddenly Miles vanished in a huff throwing the Chaotix for a loop. In the blink of an eye the Chaotix were the ones on the floor with Miles standing over them. "Like that huh, I've been working on that move a lot more. It's not really ideal for combat situations though, but if used right I think it's pretty invaluable,"

"Care to explain what is going on here?" asked a stern voice. Everyone winced as they looked to see Commander Tower entering the room with a stern facial expression. He was not pleased, to say the least. "Well?" he demanded.

"Combat practice!" Miles said quickly.

"I hadn't authorized combat training, and you were supposed to meet with me not them," Tower said glaring at the boy.

"Yeah, I know, I just-,"

"Wanted to make sure we were up to the task of protecting the city by ourselves," DJ said stepping in quickly as he picked himself up. He bent down to help up Will while Kitt was already getting to his feet. "I mean I know we have like an entire military backing us up, but it puts Miles' mind at ease knowing that we're capable of handling things on our own. Besides, we did challenge him,"

"And I am so totally sure now," Miles said confidently. He admitted he misjudged the Chaotix's strength. Sure they couldn't beat him without an extra trick or two, but he didn't exactly win either. "We call this a draw?"

"For now Miles, but we'll finish this when you get back," Will said pointing a challenging finger at Miles.

"_Yeah, we'll get you for sure!_" Charmy added.

"Come with me," Tower said simply. Miles turned to follow but not without giving his friends a thumbs up with a smirk. He looked to see Tony and Rob had departed already possibly to catch up with them. "Was that really necessary?"

"In a way, it was, I feel better about leaving now. Those guys can handle themselves and they work great as a team. I trust them and besides with my speed I'll be back before anyone can miss me,"

"That's a different tune you're playing all of a sudden," Tower said with a raised eyebrow. He hands Miles his handheld communicator he had used back when he went to Empire City. "I updated your touch screen handheld as a GPS to track your location, and as a means of using it to pin point all Eggman sightings,"

"_Eggman won't go quietly if I know anything. He'll make a big fuss, so be ready for anything,"_ Sonic advised as well.

"The ninja clans are all dangerous, but thanks to Espio you do have some help in the Shinobi Clan. He managed to get in touch with them and they will be at your service as well,"

"I sure wish Kitt could come with, but he can't go that far without Will and DJ. Speaking of, company I'd like to bring along some help,"

"You have an entire Ninja Clan as help now you don't need to bring along your team,"

"Yeah but-,"

"I really want to go sir," came a voice behind them. Miles and Tower both turn to see Rob and Tony catching up to them. Rob stepped forward after Miles and Tower stopped. "I have to go sir, please let me,"

"You are needed here Rob. I can't send the whole team out there,"

"I won't be going sir. I'm sticking with the Chaotix, and according to Knuckles it's pretty nostalgic,"

"_Before Vector was the head hancho I was the one in charge," _Knuckles stated proudly.

"_What he neglects to say is he threw a fit and they kicked him out,"_ Sonic snickered.

"_WHAT WAS THAT?!" _Knuckles yelled.

Tails sighed, "_Guys, now really isn't the time…"_

"Come on Commander, what could it hurt to bring Rob along?"

"Because that would leave two Chaos Emeralds here that need protecting with Mephiles powerful enough to send monsters at everyone simultaneously,"

"That may be true but the Chaotix can handle themselves, Tony can handle things here with them, Team Dark and Team Rose can definitely handle themselves as well. Rob and I can go out and be back before ya know it this is real important to him. He wants to find his parents,"

"We can did that when we beat Mephiles," Tower said. Miles grabbed the man's arm sternly.

"Are you gonna let another one of YOUR decisions prevent someone else from having a family?" Miles growled harshly. Tower seemed taken aback as small flicker of shame past his eyes. "If you really learned from that now's the time to prove it," Everyone present was confused about what they were talking about.

"…Fine, he can go with you just hurry back," Commander Tower said. Miles released the man's arm as he walked away with a distant look on his face. Miles seemed to share the same look with a slight ting of anger mixed in as well.

"Miles?" Rob questioned grabbing his friend's shoulder. Miles sighed then shrugged his hand off.

"Let's go," he said walking away.

"_Wonder what that was all about?_" Knuckles questioned.

"Sounds personal, like real personal," Tony said with a nod.

"You'll be alright on your own?" Rob asked turning to Tony waved him off.

"Sure don't worry I'll take good care of your place,"

"Why does that worry me…"

"Because you have trust issues,"

"Yeah, it's my issues that worry me," Rob said rolling his eyes as he runs to catch up with Miles.

"Good luck!" Tony called.

"_Don't have too much fun without us!"_ Knuckles added.

Miles was outside the base patiently waiting for Rob who rushed out and stopped next to him. Miles said nothing only nodding in a direction and shooting off at supersonic speed. Rob quickly created fox tails from his lower back and began spinning them like a helicopter. He shot off in a burst of speed catching up to Miles and matching his speed. The two heroes were off toward the Dragon Kingdom. Due to the tense atmosphere of earlier Rob felt unwelcomed to speak. Miles noticed this and sighed.

"Sorry you had to see that,"

"What was that about?" Rob asked. At this Miles was silent. Rob admitted this secretive and stand offish side of Miles was a side he was not familiar with and he was not prepared to deal with it.

"I'll tell you about it when we find your parents," Miles said.

"You promise?" Rob said holding out his fist. Miles smirked.

"Promise," Miles responded bumping fist.

"_A world adventure, just what we needed," _Sonic said.

"_Wish we had the Tornado though, but I gotta admit this is pretty nostalgic,"_ Tails said.

"Well it's time for the Eggman hunt!" Miles exclaimed.

* * *

A pillar of fire smashed down into the ground piercing the dark sky. The flames settled to reveal three figures, all female in appearance. The three girls stepped forward as they are Sol, Andrea, and Mikaela. They had landed in what appeared to be a large barren dead field. The flames had charred away of some of, what was left of what Blaze said, was once a beautiful field of flowers. This greatly saddened everyone of how such a beautiful landscape could be so desolate and lifeless.

"Wow, this place seems to have gotten worse," Mikaela said sadly.

"And I thought my world was bad," Andrea said looking around.

"This field isn't too far from Blaze's castle, let's go there and see whose left and if anyone needs help," Sol said.

"HEEEELLLP!" cried a voice.

"_Well there's our first customer," _Amy said.

"Let's hurry that might be one of the others!" Mikaela said flying into the air with Sol and Andrea running right behind her. It was only a moment later when they came across a kid younger then Tony getting mobbed by a bunch of Dark Ferals. They were snarling and growling ready to tear him limb from limb with him looking downright annoyed and a little worried.

"Calvary here!" Andrea exclaimed summoning her hammer. She slammed it into the ground creating a shockwave that threw some of the creatures into the air.

"And we're smoken hot!" Mikaela exclaimed crushing the monsters with her psychokinesis then forcing them to merge into one big ball then tossing them into another quarter.

"Insert witty line here," Sol said blandly as she burned the rest of the creatures using a rushing fire spin attack.

"Sol, that does not count as a witty one liner," Andrea complained.

"I thought it was witty,"

"Kinda lazy if ya ask me, only gets ya a cheap laugh," Mikaela said floating over.

"Isn't that what witty remarks are?"

"No, there more than that!" both girls exclaimed to which Sol just rolled her eyes.

"Thanks for checking and making sure I'm okay guys, ya no rush over here," said the boy standing up and dusting himself off. The boy has black spiky hair, stands at the height of 4'8, wears a black button up shirt, with black pants, black gloves, white skin, and dark blue eyes.

"Well if it isn't mister grumpy pants himself," Sol said.

"Whose this kid?" Andrea asked.

"This is Victor," Mikaela said.

"Yeah, but please call me Arcane, I go by that name," he corrected.

"Well since you're in the snippy mood mind telling me what you're even doing here?" Sol said with a glare.

"I was training of course, I still haven't gotten the hang of this thing, and I want to get off this world as quickly as possible. I don't belong here so these aren't my problems. You wouldn't even pay me!"

"Pay you?" Andrea asked.

"Apparently he doubles as a hero for hire on his home world,"

"Home world, whoa from the top please," Andrea pleaded.

"Names Arcane as I said already. This isn't my world, ya see I was…uh…_testing _this device called the Phase Twister. It's supposed to send me through time, but the darn thing sent me to whole different dimension! So now I'm stuck here cause those stupid black things broke it and I can't fix it. To make matters worse I've been roped into this whole Carrier deal because I got this thing," Arcane stated as he held up a cyan Sol Emerald.

"_Oh, whose in there?" _Amy asked.

"Some guy named Chaos, doesn't talk much if at all. I can only hear him in my head," Arcane said. "By the way who are you?"

"Names Andrea, Carrier of Amy, and leader of Team Rose,"

"But…you're like the smallest one…"

"Yeah because you're the tallest one here," Andrea snapped back.

"Whatever, I wouldn't have needed saving if these dumb powers would work when I want them too!"

"Shouldn't it come naturally like with us?" Andrea asked.

"_Normally for people who are really compatible like us, but sometimes there can be that one key difference that throws everything off. Chaos…can't really say he has much a personality to melt to so it's kinda hard to form a connection with someone who's kind of indifferent to a lot of things," _Amy explained.

"_Also, Chaos is pretty powerful, usually the stronger the hero the harder it is to control the full extent of their powers. Miles hasn't really even scratch the surface of his true powers with Sonic,"_ Blaze added.

"It took me a while to get used to Blaze, and I'm still learning honestly," Sol admitted.

"Where are the others Arcane?" Mikaela asked.

"Probably fighting for their lives at Blaze's Castle," Arcane said offhandedly.

"_**WHAT**_!" they all screamed.

"Yeah, when you guys left we got hit hard with all kinds of monsters. They've been pretty none stop and we've been able to push them back, but it's getting pretty hopeless. They sent me out here to thin out the lines a little bit and get more practice but I didn't think my powers would just not work all of a sudden. But yeah we should probably head back,"

"Okay ladies let's go!" Sol said charging ahead. Andrea was on her heels as Mikaela picked up Arcane to fly after them as they rushed toward Blaze's castle. "This just got all kinds of difficult..."


	20. Heroes From Another World

_**The Wielders of Chaos part 20**_

"_**Heroes From Another World,"**_

The four heroes, or three heroes and one so called anti-hero, began hurrying toward Blaze's Castle. On their way they came across what appeared to be a village, a deserted village. They took a few looks around to see that there was no sign of anyone, and that the people possibly ran off in a hurry. Sol closed her eyes to feel any heat trails that were left post Blaze's instructions.

"Wow…doesn't seem like it was that long ago that these people left," she said.

"Yeah, the monster busted through the perimeter we set up, so we had to evacuate them to the shelter in the Castle," Victor said pointed toward the towering structure not far from where they were. Andrea looked out with awe. The castle stood tall, with one extremely tall tower surrounded by lesser towers. A slight purple tint came off the castle making it look beautiful even in this dark atmosphere.

"Wow, your castle is lovely Blaze!" Andrea cooed.

"_Yeah I'll say. If it looks this pretty from this faraway then up close it must be even better!" _Amy said in agreement.

"_Thank you. I suppose as the last beacon of hope for the planet it must stand out,"_ Blaze said sternly.

"I don't get how you have a castle like that, but you're still not willing to pay me for my services," Arcane whined.

"What would you do with money anyway, buy up the candy shop?" Andrea asked incredulously.

"That's none of your concern, and stop talking down to me!" he exclaimed. Suddenly, a liquid began covering his arms. He seemingly panicked as he tried to shake it off.

"Victor get a hold of yourself now!" Sol ordered. Arcane took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself until the liquid began to retreat back from whence it came.

"What was that?" Andrea asked.

"Victor and Chaos aren't what you'd call the ideal partnered situation. It's weird because they bonded really well on an emotional level, but it's hard for Victor to control Chaos's powers. We're still not sure why," Mikaela explained.

"_I always thought it was a psychological reason why. Chaos is willing to help us to fight off this evil because it's the right thing to do, Victor however wants some type of payment or reward for it. That clash of selflessness and selfishness is bound to create problems. A bond is at its weakest when they can't agree on the same goal,"_ Silver said explaining the situation in more detail.

"That makes sense…" Andrea said glancing at Arcane who was still trying to stay in control as he stares at his hands. After one final cleansing breath he dropped his arms.

"Alright, I'm good we can go on," he said. They walked through the village with Andrea and Amy asking more questions about the world and Sol and Mikaela answering them to the best of their knowledge. They exited the village and grew closer to the castle grounds. What they saw startled them as they see a horde of monsters trying all trying to push their way into the castle. The only thing stopping them appears to be one person standing at the gate of the castle. The person had a long broad sword in his arms the length of his body. He had blond hair in the form of a bowl cut with blue eyes. He wears red, and black high top sneakers, black shorts, and a red shirt with a sword strap on his back. He smiles as the creature all approach.

"Holy crap that dude is all by himself we gotta help him!" Andrea exclaimed summoning her hammer.

"Whoa simmer down Andrea," Mikaela said using her powers to pull Andrea back.

"What, but he's gonna get creamed!"

"Just watch, besides we'd probably just get in his way,"

Andrea tilts her head then looks the person over again carefully, she notices a red Sol Emerald on the boy's hip. So he's a carrier, wonder who his hero is. The monsters rushed the boy head on and the boy smirked swung his giant sword horizontal arch. He let out a battle cry as he rushed forward into the pack. He sent monsters left and right with sword swings. The sword looked incredibly heavy, but somehow he swung it like nothing. It was a testament of his massive strength as he slashed and tore the monsters apart with ease. He caught a beast's face then slammed it into the ground and stomped on its face. He noticed a few creatures slipping past him, so he threw his sword to cleave a monster's head in half. The Dark Feral recognized he is now unarmed and moved in for the kill. However, he lifted the creatures overhead with great ease. He tossed them aside without a thought.

"Wow…this guy is insane…" Andrea gasped.

"_He might be as strong as Knuckles,"_ Amy added.

"Yep, that's Sam Permafrost, our muscle," Sol said with a smirk.

"Well he seems really well trained up on his powers, why didn't he teleport to my world yet?" Andrea asked.

"Well as you can see he's a major part of the defense of the castle. Without him those beast would probably go rushing on in. With Arcane still a liability, and George and Lauren skills not up to snuff to fight off an army like this it be a bad idea for him to leave. He was actually the second one to almost master his hero's powers so he was before me," Mikaela explained.

"_Who is his hero anyway_?" Amy asked.

"_A guy by the name of Mighty the Armadillo, his strength is legendary and almost freakish with what he can do as you can see,"_ Blaze explained. Sam had dispatched with all the monsters by the end of the conversation. He slipped his sword on his back then wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. He looked over to see the group walking towards him. He smiled and waved to them.

"Sol, Mikaela how ya guys doing?" He said greeting them with a smirk. "I see you also found Arcane too,"

"He knows how to call for help," Andrea remarked making Arcane glare at her. Sam looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"You're a new addition, who are you?"

"My name's Andrea, I'm from the other world where Mephiles is," she introduced.

"Right, my names Sam," He reached to his hip to hold up his Sol Emerald. "And this is my pal Mighty,"

"_Nice to meet you Andrea,"_ Came the friendly voice of Mighty out the emerald.

"Oh and before I forget this is my friend Amy," Andrea said holding up the green Chaos Emerald around her neck.

"_Nice to meet you both,"_ Amy greeted.

"Wow…so these are what the other set of emeralds look like. They look like a lot of trouble to carry,"

"You get used to it," Andrea shrugged.

"Well welcome to Amercia, what brings you guys back here?"

"Are you serious, dude we need both sets of emeralds to bring down Mephiles, and we gathered all of them except you five," Sol explained.

"Oh yeah I forgot," Sam smiled rubbing the back of his head. "But unfortunately Michael left to the other world a little while ago before you guys got here,"

"Ugh, are you serious!" Sol exclaimed.

"Yeah, he was getting pretty antsy so he went off to the other world to pick bigger fights," Arcane added.

"Bane of my existence and Tikal couldn't stop him?"

"Well she advised against it at first, but for someone whose not chatty he knew just what to say to convince her to reconsider her position. Apparently she agreed, but only because she wanted him to secure the Master Emerald," Sam explained.

"B-b-but, the Master Emerald is on Angel Island, along with a crazy sociopathic chaos god!" Andrea asked flailing her arms.

"_Even with Tikal backing him up with her powers this guy won't stand a chance against Enerjak_," Amy explained.

"Chaos said that Tikal and Michael are fine. He was saying something about 'the hero being near' or whatever," Arcane said. "This Chaos Force stuff is seriously confusing…"

"Oh man that makes me worry more now…" Sol groaned.

"_Well we can deal with them when we get back to Mobius, right now we should deal with the matter at hand,"_ Blaze said calling attention.

"She's right a_re the other two inside the castle?"_ Silver asked.

"Yeah, their settling down the town's people in the shelter below the castle, we should head inside too," Sam waved them to follow him inside the castle. They walk over the drawbridge into the castle. They see that despite the conditions outside that the inside of the castle looked brightly lit. Many guards were returning to their posts at the same time as well. They walked until they made it to a staircase that descended further down. Once they reached the bottom they saw that a large gathering of villagers all covered in blankets and sitting down to gather themselves. The eye catchers though were the ones flying around the room making sure everyone was settled. They two stopped a moment to look over to their new arrivals but they both brighten up to see them.

"Hey Sam finished already?" came the boy flying over to greet him with a smile. He seemed to be about thirteen years old and dirty blonde hair with short bangs and small cowlick, and brown eyes. He wears a blue short sleeved jacket, dark blue jeans, and blue and white converse. He stood at the height of 5'2 at least to Sam's chest. On the inside of the jacket pocket is a bright orange Sol Emerald.

"Yeah, those guys didn't stand a chance!" Same said flexing his arm.

"_Yeah, Sam's skill and Mighty's strength make one sick combination,_" came a voice from the boy's emerald.

"Of course you would think so Ray," said the girl with them. She appeared to be sixteen and with chocolate hair, and chocolate eyes to match. She wraps her hair in a ponytail, while wearing a long sleeve light blue shirt and a pink shirt that covers half of his quads standing at a height of 5'10. She also wears a fanny pack on her hip that held inside a white Sol emerald.

"Who are these guys?" Andrea asked.

"Well I'm Lauren, and this little guy is my adopted younger brother George," She said with a smile.

"Who you calling little guy, I'm a teenager now,"

"Barely,"

"Yeah whatever, I'm also the carrier of Ray the Flying Squirrel," George said floating up into the air.

"And I'm the carrier of Cream," Lauren said with a slight bow.

"_Oh my goodness Cream can you hear me!" _Amy called.

Suddenly Lauren fanny pack glows and Lauren eyes changed to a soft golden color. "Amy?"

Amy took over Andrea's body then immediately clasped Cream's hands in a show of affection. "Oh Cream it's been so long. When we got all the Chaos Emeralds I was so worried we wouldn't find you!"

"I had went with Mr. Chaos to this world so our spirits could bond with the Sol Emeralds. And we've been helping out wherever we could,"

"**Wow Cream you must've been really excited, you usually ask before you take over my body,"** Lauren's voice said.

"Oh, I apologize for that, I was just so happy to hear Amy's voice since I missed her so much," Cream cried as she grabbed Amy in a hug. If felt odd for Cream to be looking down at her now, but Cream was sure it was odd for Amy also.

"So Cream, why haven't you come back home yet?" Amy asked.

"Well there's just been so much to do here," Cream admitted.

"She's right, even when we left it was kinda bad timing. From what I noticed from this world and the other one is the monsters. The monsters here attack, no matter what or who you are. They've ravaged the land destroying everything in their path with no care at all. On Mobius however the creatures are more organized and goal driven. Possibly because Mephiles has a tighter rein on them since he's there, possibly," Sol said.

"We'd have to wait on that report from Team Dark to see if Mephiles is even there are not. I'd hate to think we're fighting this full scale war and he's barely been present the entire time," Mikaela said.

"Yeah that would be so annoying," George said floating around the group. "But since you and Sol came back to get us does that mean that you gathered everyone in that world already?"

"Yeah, all seven Chaos Emeralds and their carriers have been found. The same thing can be said about the Sol Emeralds as well, we just need to unite and make a plan," Mikaela explained.

"**Yeah, but now we have to put in extra effort to find that fink Michael,"** Lauren groaned.

"_Everyone is a little split up on Mobius too so it's not like we won't have to put forth the effort bring everyone together again anyway_," Blaze stated.

"But how?" Arcane asked. "Leaving this world would put everyone at risk, and who knows how long we'd be gone. Plus with my still unreliable powers, our lack of experience, and to top it off we're only guessing where Mephiles is at what can we do?"

"Now ya care?" George questioned floating overhead Arcane. Arcane flicked the older boy in the forehead to make him go into a tail spin.

"He does bring up a fair point," Sam said. "I would hate to leave these people like this without some form of protection,"

"_Hey whatever happened to that guy Eggman Nega?"_ Amy questioned returning back to the emerald.

"There's an Eggman on this world too?" Andrea questioned.

"_Yes, and he is a lot more sinister_," Blaze growled.

"_I was gonna go with crazier but hey different opinions,"_

"_His whereabouts are currently unknown. I'd doubt these creatures could take down the Doc that easy. He's probably held up somewhere nice and tight waiting for this to blow over," _Mighty suggested.

"Well he's been waiting a long time if that's the case," Lauren said retaking her body. "Why do you ask Amy?"

"_I don't know, maybe we can get some help from him. He might have a few robots or shields or something we could use to,"_

"That's not a bad idea," Sam said with a smile.

"Better than trying to take on the Iblis beast that's chewing up the world," Arcane muttered.

"The what?" Andrea asked.

"Oh, the Iblis beast is still a threat, I forgot about that," Sol groaned.

"What is it?"

"A super powerful being powered by this enchanted fire. We've taken it down, but it just keeps rising from the ashes. It's a pointless battle since the beast will never truly stay down," Sol explained.

"How long does it take to rise back up?"

"A day or two, which does give the people a lot of relief since the monsters corral to the creature to bring him back. Of course the factory is Mephiles but he litters the planet with creatures every so often,"

"I've got an idea!" Andrea exclaimed.

"I thought we already had one?" George questioned.

"But now I got one even better," Andrea said. "How many of you guys does it take to defeat The Iblis creature,"

"Sol and I can handle that thing no sweat. Like we were meant for it," Mikaelas stated proudly.

"Alright, I may not be Miles but I know how to make a good plan. Sol and Mikaela I want you two to take out The Iblis creature. While you're doing that, Sam and I will be doing a little monster hunting by destroying as many of those little buggers as we can. George and Lauren, since you both can fly you can go out and find Eggman Nega. See if you can't get something that can possibly protect these people whatever it may be,"

"Oh I get it, when Iblis rises up from the ashes he needs power from the monsters. The fewer monsters the less power he'll have, and the less power he has the longer it will take for him to come back up. Also any decent protection from Nega should at least buy us a day. So we're looking at potentially setting things up for the next week and half possibly," Lauren said with a smile.

"Wow that's a great plan Andy!" Mikaela smiled.

"I'm not leader of Team Rose for nothing," Andrea said with a smirk.

"_Team Rose is back and I missed it…"_ Cream seemed on the verge of crying.

"_You can totally take my spot if you want_," Silver begged.

"Aren't you forgetting someone?" Arcane asked annoyed folded arms. "You didn't give me anything to do,"

"Well…you don't seem too interested in helping people, and you don't seem to care to much at all about our problems. To top it off I don't trust you and you're a liability," Andrea said bluntly which clearly rattled Arcane's cage as he mashed his teeth.

"I'm the most powerful here!" Arcane exclaimed.

"So?" Andrea questioned which made Arcane do a double take.

"What do ya mean 'so' power is everything?!"

"I mean we could kick your butt, heck I could solo you easily. Your problem kid is you don't really know what you want and you don't know what team to play on. Yeah, you wanna be a badass, but right now all I'm seeing is some punk kid with some fancy powers that doesn't know how to use em. I can't trust you until you grow up and realize you aren't the only one who's got tough times. Maybe if you listened to your conscious you'd actually be a hero instead of some kid playing pretend," Andrea grinded Arcane viciously and without mercy. Even Sol had to cringe at the harshness of her words. "Alright guys let's go," She said walking forward and past a shocked Arcane. "Keep everyone in the castle safe, see if you can at least do that much,"

Everyone then rushed off with George hanging in the rear to look back at the stoic Arcane. "Will you be okay?"

"Yeah…just go…I'll show her…I'll show her that I can be so much more," George never heard Arcane sound so determined. He smirked at Andrea's handiwork then hurried up to catch up with the others.

"_You think he'll be okay?"_ Ray asked.

"Oh I think he'll be just fine,"

They all split off into their three teams to handle their assignments. Sol and Mikael and had fought The Iblis before so it was more a routine then anything to them. Sol was able to sense the enchanted flames that made up The Iblis' body. She led the way as they quickly hurried past the dead pastures of the outer rim of the kingdom toward the darkly lit purple flamed volcano in the distance.

"Seems like he might be a bit more resistant this time around," Sol muttered.

"Well I guess he's just cranky because we haven't been around to read him his bedtime story in a while," Mikaela smirked.

"Since when do you crack jokes so much?" Sol asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It helps deal with insecurities and doubts, and plus I'm hilarious!" Mikaela said as she floats in the air. "But I guess I'm not as funny as your boyfriend huh," Mikaela said flying off.

"Well he is fun-hey he's not my-I mean we're not-," Sol was flustered as she shook her head. "Stop doing that and let's focus!" Sol said shooting off at super speed using her flames to propel her forward. The two journeyed toward the volcano but were not met without resistance. A whole packs worth of Dark Ferals were rushing toward the volcano. The two heroes couldn't allow the creatures to reach The Iblis less the creature becomes that much more a threat. Sol wrapped herself up in a coat of flames as she began bashing her way through the crowd. Mikaela created a barrage of psychic knives that cut through the crowd as she provided air support. Sol threw a few flaming needles out from under her cuffs that caused her holy fire that burn the creatures to ash. Her flames were always a major source of pain and agony for the creatures. Sol began unleashing more and more flames from her body pushing her limits. She knew that she needed to harness Blaze's full powers in order to be of use to the rest of team and defeat Mephiles. She wasn't quite skilled enough to handle the full potent properties of Blaze's abilities.

"_Careful Sol,"_ Blaze warned. She nods as eyes are alit with fire. Mikaela stared in wonder at the small sun that was beginning to form around Sol.

"_Mikaela now is your chance to test how far you've come as well. Think you can do the Meteor Smash_," Silver asked.

"Silver…I don't know if I'm ready for that. I mean that is a lot of pressure to gather so many things,"

"_I know, but it's come time to see just how far you guys have gotten," _

Mikaela let out a breath and then inhaled sharply her body glows a florescent light as her cyan Sol Emerald began glowing brightly. She raised her hands above her head to summon a large amount of psionic energy. The mob of monsters began to notice that they were severely outmatched. The creatures began to merge together with one another. The mob slowly became two Dark Beast. The Beast were covered with spikes, two tails, razor sharp claws, and surrounded by purple flames.

"_Use it now Sol!"_ Blaze exclaimed.

"Sol Burn!" Sol exclaimed shooting out her arms to lash out with a spiral of flames shooting out from her body. The flames completely overpowered the purple flames surrounding the beast however they stood strong.

"_Mikaela while their weakened!"_ Silver encouraged.

"Meteor Smash!" she exclaimed dropping the energy orb down on the beast. The orb and the flames complimented each other as a spiral of flames and psionic energy began circling each other as they shoot up into the air and breaking through the clouds. The girls were shocked to see the sheer power of the attacks shatter the darkness. Through the darkness sunlight peaked out making both of them smile brightly. Seeing the sun was welcoming and it filled them with great pleasure.

"Been a while seen we've seen that huh?" Mikaela said cupping her hands over his eyes.

"**Troublesome insects…"** came a dark voice from the sky. Sol and Mikaela froze in shock wondering whose voice that was. It sounded deep, dark, and demonic. Like the voice couldn't help but snarl and growl. It was so terrifyingly deep Sol and Mikaela couldn't move. They looked toward the sky to see the clouds swallow the sun again, but not just that the clouds began to swirl. The swirling gave way to what appeared to be a portal, and something came through. Sol and Mikaela's eyes widened in horror. They saw what appeared to be a hedgehog. The hedgehog was completely black, his eyes were only swirling pits of purple flames, with an aura to match, and the smog of purple smoke leaked from his mouth as well. The most eye catching was a large hole in the middle of the hedgehog's chest that leaked out the purple flames.

"Mephiles…" Mikaela questioned.

"_No…._" Blaze muttered in utter terror. "_That form…"_ Sol took a careful note of the hedgehog's body, but saw nothing that was so mystifying. Except for the black shoes with a white strips with a black buckle. "_It might be…..Sonic's body!"_

"Sonic's what!" The girls exclaimed.

"_I-I think she's right…..but how….why?"_ Silver's voice quivered.

"**This body has taken a long time to get accustomed too. Like a second pair of clothes,"** the body floats down as if the body was in super form.

"_You sicko!"_ Silver yelled.

"How dare you! You're not even worthy to lick the dirt of his sneakers!" Sol growled.

"**I admit I've underestimated you all for a very long time. Thinking my creatures and the vile condition of this new world would swallow you up. But that ends, as of this very moment,"**

"What are you gonna do?" Mikaela asked. In response the body floats up into the air a bit then drops down all the way to the pass of the volcano slamming into the ground harshly kicking up dust. The girls stared forward in wonder at the creature. It looked at them then raised its hand to shoot a lightning blast straight into the sky. The sky took in the energy, but suddenly shot it back out bigger and larger straight into the mouth of the volcano. The girls' faces dropped when suddenly the whole volcano explodes. Silver takes control of Mikael to use Chaos Control to warp them away. Once farther they look upon to see what was happening. The volcano exploded outward, but was being pulled back in. The rocks and debris began forming a monster made totally out of purple lava. Devil wings rose up, a misshapen body with long muscular arms, ridiculously sharp claws, devil horns, and three toed feet. A horn underneath its jaw, jagged body with sharp spikes, The creature's eyes open to reveal deep black voids that focus in on the two heroines.

"**I'm going to do that,"** the body floats toward the head with arms crossed. "**My two greatest creations, the Devouring Iblis and Sophiles," **Sophlies smirked at his own clever word play.

"Don't get attached we'll destroy them both soon enough!" Silver growled.

"**I had wanted these worlds to last longer to serve a walk down memory lane. I'm a sentimental creature, but you've tried my patience when you refused to hand over the emeralds. You tried my patience when you resisted me. You tried my patience by challenging me. So now I'm going to destroy everything and collect the emeralds from the ashes to ascend to godhood once more! I'll kill this world first, then I'll kill that meddlesome crew that is heading towards me, I'll destroy that world too, and I will save the most extricating of ideas for the one who wields Sonic**,"

"_Sol," _Blaze began slowly with clear worry in her voice. "_Allow me to fight this thing,"_

"I can do this Blaze, I can face this this is what you trained me for, I'm ready,"

"_No you're not, not for this, not yet,"_

"Well we'll never know unless I try," Sol said taking a fighting pose as the creature began walking towards them.

"No Sol, let Blaze and I handle this. This is too much too soon. Neither of you are ready for this,"

"**We'll never be ready,"** Mikaela began as she snatched control of her body from Silver. "But that doesn't mean we aren't going to try,"

"_Will you two listen to us?! We're not trying to hold you back and keep you from fighting. We trust you, but we will not allow you to go into a battle where you cannot win!" _Silver exclaimed.

"There won't be any guarantee that we'll live if we fight Mephiles. So we might as well get used to facing those odds. You ready Mikaela?"

"Totally!"

"Well I hope you don't plan on going into this alone," came a voice behind them. They turned around to see Arcane standing behind them with a black fedora hat on.

"What are you doing here?!" they both exclaimed.

"Well that big monster was pretty hard to miss," he said pointing at the monster slowly walking towards them. "It's as big as a mountain. I told the others to probably head on over when they could. Sam and the gerbil will be here soon. George and Lauren said they found a lead on Nega so they might show up a little late if at all,"

"The people-,"

"Are safe, I made sure the castle guards put them sealed up tight in the bunker and got them everything they needed,"

"Alright, maybe you can help us out with this little issue," Sol said staring up at the monstrous beast that towered over them. The Iblis unleashed a monstrous roar as the wind produced from the roar almost blew the warriors right off their feet. Only reason they were able to stay put was because Mikaela held them down with her powers. It raised a hand then brought it down.

"Take a deep breath!" Arcane exclaimed as he grabbed both girls' arms. The giant hand slammed down onto the ground creating a large dust cloud the size. Under the dust cloud a puddle slipped out from under the hand. The puddle took shape into three figures with Sol and Mikaela gasping for breath. "I'll see if I can bring him down while you guys catch your breath,"

"…wait…" Sol gasped coughing. Arcane closed his eyes as he run toward the beast.

"Come on Chaos we gotta work together on this one….I know I'm not the most heroic or honorable. But I am willing to fight for this world as if it was mine. Can we agree on that?" he asked. His Sol Emerald shined briefly before he smirked. "Thank you," Suddenly his arms shifted into a liquid form with his arms under the surface of the water like substance. The Iblis swung its hand across the ground creating a long dirt trail toward Arcane. Arcane held his hands out as he caught the giant hand head on. His feet were sliding across the ground as he mashed his teeth to hold the hand back. However, eventually he came to a stop. Hiw body shook as he tried to hold the hand back with the beast in shock that his hand was stopped by such a small creature. The Iblis then closed his hand around Arcane to trap the boy in his fist.

"We'd better move!" Mikaela said taking flight. Sol groaned as she tried to dry herself of the water substance. The Iblis lit his fist a flame as he clenched it tightly. It then threw its hand down throwing Arcane roughly into the ground. The boy left a large crater in the ground as he tried to move despite the pain. Mikaela began launching a barrage of psychic knives at the beast's face. The blast broke apart on contact with the creature as it opened its mouth to shoot out a stream of flames. Mikaela was consumed by the flames. However, thanks to her ghost abilities she was able to become intangible to avoid being burned by the flames. Sol came rushing toward the beast's feet. She wrapped herself in flames and began to spin like a top toward the creature's knees. She hit it with all her might, however this seem to only annoy as the creature allowed a burst of purple flames to shoot from its body overpowering both Mikaela and Sol. They both went flying into the air but were caught by Arcane's expanded elongated hands.

"He's too big to fight like this!" Mikaela exclaimed. The Iblis waved its arm to unleash a barrage of flaming energy arrow that came raining down on them like rain. Arcane raised his hands to create an electronic energy shield that sparked to life each time it was hit.

"Wow, you have a lot more control all of a sudden," Sol gasped.

"Can't…hold…"

"Let me try," Mikaela closed her eyes to focus on creating a shield to relieve Arcane. "Can't hold it much longer either…"

"We need a plan," Arcane stated to try and catch his breath. His emerald also shined brightly in a pattern as if speaking. "Chaos says we won't be able to take this beast down like this,"

"It's certainly more powerful than the creature we fought outside Central City," Mikaela groaned.

"And bigger…" Sol groaned.

"_We need to hit it with precision strikes. Sol had the right idea earlier but neither of you are strong enough to do any real damage. Chaos is our muscle right now so we must rely on him and Arcane,"_ Blaze said.

"Are you sure about that?" Sol questioned.

"_Are you up for it Arcane?" _Silver asked. Arcane was quiet a moment in thought. He never felt some much pressure of others relying on him like this. He felt responsible and knowing that he couldn't let them down now. His emerald blinks a few times making his eyes widen. "_What he say?"_

"He said, he believes in me, and he never doubted our partnership. He said the reason I couldn't control his powers is because I didn't have a drive a reason to fight beyond just fighting. I want to destroy this thing and protect those people back at the castle that's why I'm here and that's why I fight. So you can count on me!"

"Good…cause I can't take much more…" a laser beam hit Mikaela's shield making the shield break and Mikaela hit the ground. Sol and Arcane turned to see the creature standing over them with the Sophiles floating there by its head with a smirk.

"**Crush them," **The Iblis obliged as it raised its foot to bring down on the heroes. Arcane reached out with his elongated hands to grab Sol and Mikaela then closed his eyes.

"Chaos Bind!" Suddenly a burst of energy shot out of Arcane and began wrapping around The Iblis. The creature was unable to move a muscle with its limbs all wrapped up tight. Sweat poured out of Arcane's face as he threw his hands back his chaos energy tendrils actually lifting the creature and throwing it back onto the ground. The wind and dust that followed almost overwhelmed them as they felt like a hurricane was coming for them. Once the wind settled they were able to remove their arms from their faces to block out the dust.

"Now's our chance!" Sol said once she got Mikaela to her feet. Mikaela nods in agreement then teleports away surprising Sol. Mikaela appeared over the beast then held her hands above her head to gather a large amount of energy in her palms. She concentrated as best she could for one precise strike while the beast was done for the moment. She threw both of her hands down to unleash a giant crescent wave. The Iblis raised its hand to block it but was taken by quite a surprise to see the blade slash through its wrist. It was startled to see its entire left hand fall uselessly to the ground. Mikaela was drained dramatically because of the attack and began to free fall. The Iblis opened it mouth to unleash a stream of flames. Mikaela was too powerless to move despite Silver's best efforts to try and get her to take some action. He knew if he took over her exhausted body he would only make her condition worse possibly ultimately killing her anyway. "Arcane throw me!"

"Just give me a minute to-,"

"Throw me!" she hollered. Arcane growled as he had no choice but to suck it up. He grabbed her wrist then spun around a few times to launch her threw the air toward Mikaela. Sol went sailing through the air assisting by the flames she lit at her heels. She flew towards Mikaela to snag the girl just before the purple flames could claim her. Sol tried her best to offer protection for her but was overcome with the pressure of the flames herself as they were both thrown to the ground. Arcane gasped as he ran toward them. The Iblis grabbed its severed hand to throw it at Arcane. The boy looked up too late as the hand was upon him about to crush him. He winced as he closed his eyes but only until he heard a sharp sound. He looked up to see Sam had slashed the hand in half with his broad sword.

"Need a hand," Sam said with a smirk.

"You're hilarious…" Arcane groaned. He looked around a moment to see Andrea was running towards her downed teammates. Somehow she was able to create an illusion of Mikaela and Sol flying around the beast's head. "We need to hit this thing where it hurts,"

"Yeah…but where would that be?" Sam questioned looking the creature over. "Usually we can just pound it into submission with a few head strikes,"

"We need to destroy its armor around the vital areas. Sol had aimed for the knees earlier so I guess we can try that,"

"Alright let's go!" Sam exclaimed rushing forward and Arcane not far behind. "Oh and congrats on master your powers,"

"Thanks,"

With the girls Andrea was able to pull Sol and Mikaela to relative safety then looked on to see Sam and…Arcane? She was surprised to say the least, but she noticed he seemed to be in a bit more control then when she last saw him. She smiled as she realized her words had done something. She turned back to her two friends. Mikaela was unconscious while Sol was dead tired. Neither were ready for a fight again, although Sol was still itching to get back in there Andrea was able to get her to settle down a bit. She watched as The Iblis unleashed a barrage of flaming energy arrows down on the two. A red shell suddenly appeared on Sam's back as he curled up into a ball as the arrows bounced off. Arcane created a shield that protected him from the barrage. Once it was over they began running again.

"You get left, I get right!" Arcane called. He leaped out toward The Iblis' knees while cupping his hands and Sam did the same. Arcane struck his knee and Sam slashed his. The creature let out a sharp yelp of pain at the blows shattering pieces of its armor. Arcane however shot his elongated arms out in the forms of spikes. They pierced right through the knee and out the other side let out a sharp hiss of steam. The beast roared out in pain as it transferred its weight on the other leg. "Chaos Strike!" Arcane gathered a ball of energy in between his palms then unleashed the blast into the damaged knee blowing the kneecap off altogether. The creature lost its balanced as it fell to a knee, well half a stub to be more accurate. It glowered at Arcane in fury then opened its mouth to breath hot purple flames. Sam chuck his sword as hard as he could for the blade to impale itself into the creature's throat.

"I've always wanted to say this, but it is so clobberin time!" Sam exclaimed leaping forward with his cup hands toward the other knee. He struck it so hard it sounded like thunder which made the beast holler in pain. Arcane leaped upward using his jumping abilities from Chaos to land a powerful haymaker into the beast's jaw. Arcane was pleased to finally nail the sucker but struck with terror to see the creature eyes lock on his then fire a concussion beam from its eyes to slam him into the ground.

"Arcane!" Sam yelled. He growled as while Arcane had it bust Sam began climbing the beast. He made it to The Iblis' shoulder then began running toward the head. The creature turned it head to unleash a stream of purple fire along its body toward Sam. Sam was thrown off and hit the ground quite harshly.

"Oh no Sam, I can't watch this anymore," Andrea said standing to her feet. She told Sol to stay put and watch Mikaela as she ran toward the battle. She decided to see to Arcane who was quite beaten down. She wondered how that stupid hat of his was able to stay on his head after all this. He was barely conscious when she got him muttering things incoherently. "Come on kid pull it together we really need you,"

"What…" Arcane babbled then looked at Andrea. His eyes landed on her Chaos Emerald around her neck. His emerald in his pocket was shining brightly as if Chaos was yelling. Arcane came to his senses to sit up and look at Andrea.

"What?"

"Chaos says I need your emerald,"

"What, why, you have your own?"

"He says the Chaos Emeralds make him stronger or something,"

"_That's true, but how would this work with me inside it?"_ Amy asked.

"We can sit here waiting for our deaths while we play 20 questions, or you can give me the stupid thing so we can win,"

"_He makes a good argument,"_ came Mighty's voice. They turned to see Sam limp over towards them. _"We can't give the beast a chance to heal,"_

"Mighty's right, it's now or never," Sam agreed.

"Alright fine here, but be careful with it," Andrea said shakily removing her Chaos Emerald from around her neck. She didn't like how naked she felt without it. Arcane touched it and suddenly Chaos began to react to it making both emeralds glow brightly. Arcane opened his eyes after the light to see his hand transformed. It no longer was his human hand under the surface of Chaos' limbs but the green Chaos emerald fused to his arm. He looked at Andrea in shock who was just as confused and clearly quite weakened.

"Hurry up…" she muttered.

Arcane nods as he shoots to his feet and rushes forward with renewed energy. Sam follows up behind him quickly. "Get ready to knock his block off,"

"Alright,"

"Chaos Bind!" Arcane exclaimed raising his hand to launch out chaos energy tendrils that wrapped around the creature's shoulders, throat, waist, and thighs. Arcane noticed it was a bit easier to life the creature this time as he was seating as much.

"Think you can launch me?" Sam asked.

"Curl up," Arcane stated. Sam followed and Arcane grabbed Sam in ball form then threw it with all his might toward the creature's head. Sam uncurled to soar through the air as he landed on the creature shoulder. He noticed his sword close by then grabbed the hilt the slice it alongside the creature's throat draining it of lava. Arcane using his water abilities began dousing parts of the creature's body as he squeezed tightly. Sam put his sword back on his back then jumped up to jackhammer the creature in the center of the head. This created a crumbling effect that stretched alongside the entirety of the creature. It soon crumbled to pieces it was only mere pieces of rock lava now. Arcane and Sam were in danger still though as the debris would crush them. However, they were quickly rescued by Lauren and George. Lauren grabbing Sam and George grabbing Arcane. They both flew away from the danger area.

"Looks like we got here just in time to save the day after all," Lauren said with a smile.

"Thanks," Sam said with a smile.

"Would have been better if you both showed up a little earlier," Arcane complained.

"Oh don't be mad. If it makes you feel better we had a tough time too. We had to deal with a whole gang of robot pirates who turned out to be pretty useless in the end," George said with crossed arms.

"Well at least we all made it," Sol said with Mikaela leaning on her. Andrea also took back her Chaos Emerald immediately feeling better.

"**Well done," **came a voice above them. They all looked upward to see Sophiles floating with a smirk. "**But as you all well realize that was a simple creature to create. It didn't take a large amount of power to create it either. I see now you are indeed worthy of my attention after all. I will make sure to head back to Mobius so I can give you all the proper respect you deserve,"**

"Is that…who I think it is?" Andrea questioned.

"It is, its Mephiles…"

"_But…that body….no he couldn't have…YOU EVIL MANICAL BASTARD HOW DARE YOU!" _Amy howled in complete fury. Andrea was thrown for a loop to hear her friend speak like that.

"What is it?"

"_That body….that's Sonic's body!" _

"Wait, the hero of that other world?" Sam asked.

"_Mr. Sonic…." _Cream cried.

"**I suggest you lick your wounds later. After all I can see that all of the heroes there are scattered and easy pickings. Foolish humans I would've thought you'd know this by now, but the saying is divided you fall,"** A swirling dark portal appeared behind the possessed corpse as it floats inside to vanish. At his exit the heroes look at each other fearful. Mephiles is finally getting his head in the game and beginning to pay them more attention. He was going to toy with them anymore and this battle was clear proof. They very nearly lost that fight and their lives. After so many easy victories this battle suddenly began to seem very, very deadly serious.

"Let's get ready to leave," Sol said after a while garnering the attention of her friends. "The people in the castle have to fend for themselves, we don't have a choice, it's do or die time. Everyone ready?" She was met with tired eyes, but determined faces which told her more than enough. "Alright, let's go,"


	21. Darkest Hour

_**The Wielders of Chaos part 21**_

"_**Darkest Hour,"**_

The darkness was everywhere. It was night night at this time, and it showed why no one should be out during this hour. The beasts were unleashed in all kinds of ways. They lash out at one another they also operate on a much more primitive mindset attacking everything that moves. It was so disturbing that if one had any source of light they could actually SEE the darkness swirl and twist in the air. Night night has always been pretty intense, but the gravity of the feeling was greatly overpowering. The air was so thick if you inhaled it you were start coughing as if you inhaled a poisonous gas. The taste of the air is bitter and sour. As if the air itself was past its expiration date. The darkness was all consuming, but it got worse farther ahead. Where a ginormous structure stood miles away, but it looked large even five miles away standing on crushed mountain tops.

"Cinos pay attention," Kalia reprimanded the boy who was staring off into space. The Ixis wizard in training and carrier of the Ultimate Lifeform Shadow the hedgehog turned around.

"Sorry…I was a little thrown by that place," Cinos said turning back toward his team consisting of Kalia the carrier of Rouge, and E-123 Omega, the walking arsenal. "That place looks incredible from here,"

"Well we made it here now we need to go over our plan to make sure we all know what we're doing," Kalia said.

"Yeah…the plan…what was it?" Cinos asked.

"_It still throws me how such an airhead can be Shadow's Carrier…which means Shadow isn't as astute as he claims to be,"_ Rouge teased from the cyan emerald from Kalia's hip.

"_What are you getting at Rouge?"_ Shadow responded rather sharply at the jab from the red emerald on the buckle of Cinos' belt.

"_Well we have similar traits to our carriers which allows the connection to be so strong,"_

"_The key word being SIMILARITIES, not copies of us,"_ Shadow asserted.

"Shadow you zone out all the time," Cinos pointed out. This made Rouge snicker at the thought of Shadow acting like Cinos.

"But it just means we have to run through the plan all over again," Kalia said. "Alright so Team Dark, this is a really important mission we're one right now, so we need to be at the best we've ever been,"

"WHAT IS THE PLAN?" Omega asked in his robotic voice.

"Omega you weren't listening either?" Kalia exclaimed indignantly. She let out a frustrated sigh since she couldn't simply run through it like she wanted to. "Okay, our mission is to gather as much information about Mephiles' fortress as we can. Points of entry, weaknesses, guards, and gauge what kind of power Mephiles is in command of in this moment of time. I have a camera with night vision picture capabilities so I can take pictures without a flash. But above all else this mission is covert guys, we're trying not to get caught," Omega and Cinos gave Kalia blank stares. "I mean it, we are not going in there guns blazing!" Cinos and Omega both looked down in disappointment. "Now we gather the information we came to get and we get out of here with our lives,"

"Alright…but how covert can we really be when Mephiles can sense the emeralds we have, and probably knows we've been on our way the entire time. We might as well go in guns blazing,"

"No, I have an idea around that, Omega open up," Kalia turned to the robot. Omega stood up straight and opened his chest compartment to reveal a tray with two slots. "Omega has thick armor, he can block the signal of the emeralds I tested it out before we left. With our emeralds inside him Mephiles and his monsters won't be able to track us,"

"Do you hear yourself right now we can't go in there weakened?!" Cinos exclaimed. "Besides I thought with your sneak abilities you and Rouge could conceal your emerald from detection,"

"Mephiles is on a different level entirely, so I don't know if it will work on him so it's better safe than sorry. Besides we're gonna have to and only our chaos enhanced powers will be gone, all of their natural abilities will still be with us,"

"So that would leave me with super speed, fortitude, slightly enhanced strength since I don't have the emerald, and my limited Ixis magic skills. With you, you won't be able to fly, sneaking abilities are cut, wall cling, and your strength will be cut too. Your more disadvantage then I am,"

"Yet you're the one whining," Kalia said placing her emerald in the tray, although she was begrudging to take her hand off. "The two of us will head inside alone. Since Omega isn't exactly built for stealth he should map out the perimeter of the area. Get a layout of everything five miles out from the structure,"

"Honestly Omega will be the safest one between the three of us!" Cinos said unhooking his emerald from his belt.

"_I don't know if I like this plan Kalia. Rouge and I won't be there if you get into trouble to protect you if there is trouble. We could take the risk of a direct approach,"_

"We can't Shadow," Kalia asserted.

"_I know you want to protect Cinos Shadow, especially since he's so… him. But we can't protect them all the time and from everything. If they're willing to take this risk we can't stand in their way, and we'll know the second they're in trouble and alert Omega to go back them up. They'll be fine,"_

Shadow grunts in thought. Cinos holds the emerald up for a moment. "I'll be careful Shadow I promise you. You won't lose another friend…" Cinos assured as he sat the emerald in Omega's tray. The tray slide into Omega's chest and closed up.

"EMERALDS SECURED, INITIATING THE MISSION NOW," Omega turned to stomp off.

"Ready?" Kalia asked touching Cinos' arm seeing the stern showing in his eyes shining despite the dark around them.

"Yeah, want me to carry you?"

"Sure," Cinos picked up Kalia bridal style then rushed off in a burst of speed. Cinos noticed that he was also considerably slower as well. He was barely able to reach Mach 1 when he started out. "So, you and Shadow are a lot closer than I thought. What did you mean about losing a friend?"

Cinos glanced at Kalia before returning his attention back to the front to see their target closing in. Cinos didn't feel right telling Shadow's personal history to someone he never approved to tell when he doesn't like talking about it at all. However, he assumed Rouge knew and Omega did too. He and Kalia are teammates so it should be allowed to share. "Shadow lost someone really precious to him a real long time ago. Her name was Maria she was his only friend and one of the most important people to him in his life. She's the main inspiration for why he is who he is,"

"What happened to her?" Kalia asked.

"There was…a terrible accident aboard a place called Space Colony Ark. However, that was just the cover story. The truth is the military believed that weapons of mass destruction were being made there and they were going to shut the place down. They captured Shadow's creator and killed dozens of people. Shadow barely escaped only because Maria sent him out through a space pod right before she was shot and killed," Kalia winced. "He's always had a distaste for humanity because of that. When he reappeared again he almost assisted in destroying the world! But he realized that wasn't what Maria wanted and decided to be the champion Maria saw him to be,"

"He told you all this?" Kalia asked shocked.

"Not in so many words, but I got the gist. I'm his carrier after all,"

"Wow…I always heard Shadow was someone to be feared, but to hear it all sounds so tragic,"

"It was rough for him I'm sure,"

"Rouge and I are partners because she instills me with so much confidence. I would never imagine myself doing stuff like this a year ago. I couldn't stand up to anyone my entire life always being pushed around. I was destined to be the world's doormat. But she showed me that I didn't have to. To take what I wanted with my own power. She gave me freedom and it felt amazing standing up to all kinds of things. I'll be honest with you right now…without her here right now…I'm kinda scared,"

"Well let's make our heroes proud then. Get your camera ready," Cinos said as the approached the base of the mountain. Kalia raised her camera ready to snap a few shots. With the scenery passing by so quickly she had to get the best and most detailed shots she could. She advised Cinos to slow down a bit so she could obtain more quality then quantity. Cinos did as she asked, but found himself feeling vulnerable as he slowed down to a running speed instead of his rocket shoes. Kalia tried her best to steady the camera to make the shots as visible and clear as possible. Cinos approaches the base of the mountain to stop and marvel at the sheer size of the castle from close up. It was amazing to say the least, as he felt chills surrounded him with dark power leaking out every open part of the castle structure. The mountain is extremely sturdy though holding the entire structure. Kalia snapped a few picture of the mountain base and noting any weaknesses. "Well no guards,"

"Well I guess in retrospect what would even be crazy enough to step foot in this place. Who needs guards when it's hard to step outside without getting torn to shreds anyway?"

"Here we go," Cinos summoned a small tornado under his feet as he launched them both into the air towards the castle structure. Cinos and Kalia rose high into the air hovering over the castle to get a bird's eye view of the entire structure from above. Six pointed towers stood erect in on the side of the mountain in the center of the castle and on the corners, walkways were also constructed alongside the edge of the cliffs, and an entrance that was made of thick large wooden doors. Cinos lands in front the entrance. "Let's go,"

"You wanna walk through the front door?" Kalia questioned incredulously.

"Why not, door was left open?" Cinos pointed out. Indeed the door was opened a crack as if someone had simply forgotten to close it when entering. The stone path leading to the front door was barren of anything but a few creepy looking statues that appeared to be based of Solaris, the Sun god. Kalia snapped a few pictures then followed Cinos carefully, but both froze on the spot. They hear a rather mean growl from something that sounded quite large. The door to the entrance was pushed open to reveal three sets of dark red eyes glaring at them. "Dark Feral?" Cinos questioned raising his fist. The threes eyes stuck their heads out to reveal long snouts with dog like teeth and ears. "Dogs?" As the beast stepped out the shadows they saw only one body.

"Dog," Kalia corrected. "Dark Cerberus," She raised her camera to take a picture. The demon hound unleashed a feral cry of rage as all three heads glared at each other. "His guard dog,"

Cinos summoned the wind to lift them both in the air as the hound lunged for the both of them. One of the heads snapped its jaw at them but the two heroes narrowly avoid it. Kalia lands on her feet then quickly rushes to get underneath the beast. One of the heads tries to snap at her but Cinos smacks it away by tackling it with his shoulder. The dog raised its claws then slashed at him, but he flipped backward narrowly avoiding the attack. "Damn lot of close calls. I'm used to being so far ahead of movements," Cinos unleashed a lightning blast at the beast making the beast growl in pain. The heads on the right and left open their jaws to unleash a sphere of purple flames down on him. Cinos kicked up a tornado under his feet to launch into the air, but the demonic flames caught onto the wind catch fire as flames grew with Cinos. This provided a bright light as the flames got bigger as Cinos rose. Cinos dispelled the wind to stop the flames, but it didn't stop him from being slightly burned. Cinos used his hover shoes to slow his decent down but he was left open, as the beast swung its tail into his side and sending him to the ground. The beast glowered down at him snarling with dark black teeth edging closer to him. Suddenly Kalia jumps off the middle dog's head to land in front of Cinos. The middle shook his head as they continued to advance. Kalia held up a detonator then pressed the button. Suddenly, parts of the dog began exploding in sequence. The dog let out a squeal especially after Cinos finished it off with a lightning blast that knocked it off the edge of the cliff. "Whew…."

"That was tough, we'd better get moving before that thing gets its second wind," Kalia said as she led the way into the entrance of the castle with Cinos on her heels.

"I guess Mephiles is drawing inspiration for his monsters from all kinds of places," Cinos said. They both entered the castle to be thoroughly surprised to see the castle was indeed lit rather well but only with candles. This threw them for quite the loop. "Wait, he covers the entire planet in darkness, but not his house?"

"That is just like a lousy house guest to dump all their trash in someone else's trashcan," Kalia said as she snapped a few pictures. "This does change things though,"

"Where should we go now?" Cinos asked leading the way deeper into the castle, still surprised to see light, floating candles with purple flames, but still light. The candles didn't melt so the flame stayed as bright as it possibly could.

"We explore. Look for stuff that's important," Kalia said.

"How will I know it's important?"

"If it's guarded, hidden, or something that can be used to our advantage," Kalia suggested.

"Yeah, let's just wonder around the house of the demon that's trying to kill us. Never mind we're uninvited and beat up his dog,"

"You have a point there, get in and get out," Kalia said. Suddenly, they both heard growls around them. They both turned to see Dark Ferals approach from both direction coming from the walls. Kalia and Cinos stood back to back.

"Yeah and let's try to stay alive," Cinos added. They both leaped into action with Cinos sliding licking up flames with his rocket skates knocking a beast back. He swung his leg to knock the other into the wall but it merged with it. Cinos sent a lightning blast after it for good measure and he heard a howl of pain to confirm a direct hit. Kalia held her own well swinging herself over the beast then performing a back roll of another beast. She performed a vertical split just in time to avoid a lunge. She sprung back to her feet to throw a small bomb at the beast right in its face. The impact made it jerk back, and the explosion took its head right off. Kalia tried to move as if Rouge was still with her, but she realized the movements didn't come as fluid as they usually did. She took greater notice of this when one of the Dark Ferals managed to run its claws across her back making her shout in surprise and pain. "Kalia!" Cinos leaped into action trying to get to Kalia, but the beast would not let up. It occurred to him that more were coming in then they were taking out. "Gotta put an end to this!"

"We have to move we can't be pinned down here much longer!" Kalia called as she slid on her feet avoiding the claws of another monster. The diving monsters were reckless, but they had room to be since in this hall they had the two of them surrounded on all sides. The numbers kept increasing as more beast poured in from the walls. Kalia barely managed to take a steady picture of the action before having to suddenly dodge out of the wall of a creature's teeth. Her saving grace being that it's brighter in here then it is outside. Kalia swung leg backward in a back vertical kick. She followed through with the move to flip forward bringing her other food down hard in the form of an axe kick on top of another beast's head into the ground. "Let's move!" She catapulted herself off the beast's head to flip back into the air.

Cinos didn't need to be told twice as he launched himself into the air guided by a whirlwind. He snatched Kalia from the air then began skating alongside the wall then after passing the crowd began dashing down the corridor. Cinos didn't bother to see if the creatures were following, he assumed they were, plus Kalia's pleas to go faster confirmed this. He allowed Kalia the luxury of looking back while he was concerned about what was in front of him. He knew that looking back automatically slowed you down splitting your concentration. "Hang on!" Cinos alerted. He suddenly placed his skates behind him as he boost forward. He was going fast enough to gain a Mach Cone like he would with Shadow in his hip, but it was still much faster then what he was going. He knew that anything less would get them killed. Kalia alerted him that they were starting to fall behind. Cinos felt like each corridor looked almost exactly alike from each other, like nothing distinctive to direct anyone to where they are or where they're going. It was frustrating, something Kalia also took note off, but they were moving way too fast for her to take pictures.

"I need pictures Cinos!"

"Now!?" Cinos exclaimed looking at her.

"We still have a mission to do, we have to do it. Right now your breezing through this castle isn't getting us anywhere,"

"But-,"

"Just stop every few seconds take a few pictures then move!"

Cinos relented to her. "I thought I was supposed to be leader…"

"Shadow runs the old Team Dark, this is the New Team Dark and you're just the figurehead,"

"Good know, get your camera ready," Cinos screeched to a halt. Kalia snapped a few pictures in random directions trying to get as much as she could as quickly as she could. When the camera finished taking its last picture Cinos was off again before the monsters could catch up and in another direction to help with evasiveness. "These pictures are gonna make no sense,"

"That's something to decide about later!" Suddenly giant hands appeared out the grown covered in purple energy and claws. Cinos gasped screeching to a halt.

"Neat," Kalia said snapping a photo. The hands lunged at them with Cinos pulling a face of panic the entire time. He jumped back to jump onto the back of the palm, then leaped through the fingers of the other, and all while Kalia took snapshots. Some included Cinos' panicked face.

"That was crazy!" Cinos exclaimed.

"Seems like anything can happen in here," Kalia remarked.

"**Now you're getting it…"** remarked a voice. Cinos screeched a halt looking around. "**This way…"** the voice called. It sounded so deep, evil, and obviously leading them into a trap. Cinos looked back to see their way was suddenly sealed off leaving them no option but to follow. Kalia wormed her way out of Cinos' arms to begin walking forward since Cinos wasn't moving.

"What are you doing?" Cinos demanded grabbing her arm. "The creepy voice asks you to come closer and you listen? Were you that kid that believed there was candy in the stranger's white van too?"

"We don't have a choice, we're on his turf, his rules, and as we just saw he can make anything happen. If he was going to kill us, he would've…" Kalia said sullenly. "Worst case is that he kills us, but at least he won't have the emeralds," Cinos released the girls arm after that then followed her as they ventured toward where the voice had called.

"**Warmer, you're both getting warmer…"** the voice teased. Cinos and Kalia were constantly on guard for anything that may pop out but it was difficult to watch the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and each other without trying to concentrate on the voice too. It was difficult and made them wish their heroes were there. They would've made up for their lack of ability to see the entire room, but not just that but the heroes always made their protégé feel much safer. It was odd…Cinos had never been scared throughout this entire adventure until the moment he relinquished his emerald. They entered through a doorway halfway sticking out their heads to scope out the area first. They see that it appears to be some sort of ballroom, lit up by a giant chandelier covered with candles lit with purple flames. It gave off the vibe perfectly, were normal ballrooms were painted brilliant colors given an almost heavenly feel. This one appeared to be straight from underworld. Skulls decorated the walls, pillars black and covered with thorn vines, an enteral fog that hung just about the floor so one couldn't see where they stepped, and ceiling painted pictures of demons acting as if they're angels in heaven all having a merry time. It was pretty disturbing to say the least about it all. The two ventured toward the center of the room until suddenly the candles on the chandelier burst into a dazzling show of flames as the flames grew bigger and brighter. The two stared up at the show watching carefully. A figure appeared through the flames standing before them and Cinos' eyes opened widely seeing them.

"Who is that?" Kalia questioned. The figure stepped out of the flames to reveal themselves. It was what appeared to be Shadow, but paler, purple stripes on his quills, no mouth, and dark green eyes. The colors were inverted a bit, but it was an exact replica of Shadow.

"S-Shadow?" Cinos questioned stuck in a stupor. The hedgehog floats down to the ground slowly to stand before them his head tilted downward.

"**Hello Carrier of Shadow the Hedgehog, nice to finally meet you**," the creature stated rather casually despite him having no mouth.

"W-who are you…you…you're not like the other monsters here…your different…in an entire league of your own," Cinos said in a shaky voice. He was terrified at what he was seeing. Not only a copy of his hero, but some strange demonic colored version no less. What was Mephiles playing at?

"He…he couldn't be…" Kalia began with fear dripping out of her voice, too scared to even take a picture.

"**What's the matter my dear, I'm ready for that close up?"** The creature gestured towards Kalia's camera. "**Allow me**," He raised his hand and Kalia's arm rose beyond her control. She gasped as she fought for control back, but couldn't resist it. She cried in panic as she felt her fingers move until suddenly she heard a clicking sound and then her hand relaxed. "**There, would you like to take another perhaps?"**

"H-How did you do that?" Kalia asked/demanded.

"**Now children, I know that the youth has lost a great sense of awareness of the outside world, but please. You cannot be so daft as to not ascertain my identity by now. The Carrier of Shadow the Hedgehog knows don't you boy?"**

Cinos gulped pushing down the lump in his throat. "…M….M-Mephiles….."

"Oh my god…." Kalia breathed out in complete horror. The monster that was plunging the world in darkness, slowly killing it, and the source of the chaos and madness spread throughout the entire world stood in front of them. They had no chance against this person with their emeralds, which is why they were still gathering allies. But now, seeing him in person, they wondered what was in their mind to think they could challenge someone like this. They felt all hope drain from their bodies slowly as standing began to seem pointless.

Cinos swallowed her fear then stood strong again. He knew what they had to do. "KALIA RUN!" Cinos screamed as he rushed Mephiles head on. He knew this wasn't a smart plan, a good plan, or even a plan to begin with. But he needed to do something since they weren't ready for this, but no means. Cinos laced his hands with lighting as he grappled with Mephiles head on. Mephiles didn't even seem bothered to be taking on lightning head on, possibly ignoring 120,000 volts like it was nothing. Cinos struggled as best he could but found Mephiles wasn't budging, hell, Mephiles wasn't even pushing he was just standing there! He pulled back his fist to swing it at Mephiles' face. Mephiles simply spun around the punch easily barely exhibiting any real effort or awareness of a threat. He was behind Cinos now he raised his fist then gently tapped Cinos' back.

However this tap was equivalent to a haymaker from a bus!

Cinos' body smashed into the floor breaking into the brick covered with a dust cloud. Kalia screamed in horror seeing Cinos go down so easy and Mephiles be so casually about it, almost surprised even. **"Disappointing, he lasted a lot less longer then I thought he would. Of course if you had your emeralds that would be a different story wouldn't it,"**

Kalia ignored Cinos' plea to flee, besides there was nowhere to go. They either fight or die. Kalia came in furiously swinging her legs around and around trying to catch Mephiles in one of her attacks. Mephiles saw this as a game though and decided that he would dodge them this time. Mephiles stepped backwards quickly avoiding each of Kalia fast strikes. She struck with a vertical kick, flipped into an axe kick, a secret kick, a hook kick, backflip kick, and anything else she could make up on the fly. However, each attack was met with no success only striking air. She lacked Rouge's finesse and speed. Mephiles suddenly flashed in front of her shocking her. Mephiles gently places his hand against her stomach then lightly pushes. Again his strength is far vaster then expected as that push equaled being thrown out of a moving vehicle and into the unforgiving wall where her body slammed into. She slammed into a pillar with the thorns, cutting into her body and making her gasp for air as it was knocked right out her. She felt her bones shift, her body shut down, and blood trickle out of her throat. The thorns held her against the wall as she twitched trying to control the muscle spasm from the shock.

"**I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around this. You mean to tell me, they actually sent you two here knowing that I would be here and that encountering me was a possibility,"** Mephiles shakes his head. **"Sooooo, disappointing, and I thought I might get to use my puppet if you defeated this simple construct I crafted. This thing barely has a fraction of my power,"**

And it finally dawned on Cinos and Kalia just what exactly they were trying to fight. A monster…a complete monster with unfathomable amounts of power. Mephiles, if he wasn't bluffing, was saying that the creature in front of them was merely a construct he created, and apparently a relatively weak one. Also, he has something even stronger then this thing, and then Mephiles himself. Cinos staggered back to his feet as he looked like he collapse in a moment's notice. Kalia began crying as the dread of it all began to come crashing down on her. She was so stupid to think this was a good idea. Going in without Chaos Emeralds, in the lion's den without any form of protection and it didn't even matter if they did have them. Mephiles corralled them here in the first place no matter how many turns they took Mephiles could manipulate this entire castle, they would only go where he wanted them to go.

"Shut…up…." Cinos flicked an air bullet at Mephiles didn't even blink as if a soft breeze just slapped him in the face.

"**I think it's only fitting to send you off like only your mentor can boy,"** Mephiles raised his hand as sparks of dark energy began to pulsate around it. Cinos recognized it instantly and gasped as he prepared himself. "**Nega Chaos-**,"

An explosion from behind Mephiles cut him off as he turned his head, as he turned though he was greeted by a metal fist slamming into his jaw throwing him across the room and into a pillar and breaking through it. Cinos gasped as he looked to see that it was Omega, battle torn, but still rarying to go. "SENSORS INDECATED HIGH LEVELS OF DISTRESS, REMEDYING," Omega's chest opened to reveal the two Chaos Emeralds of Cinos and Kalia. Cinos raised his hand already feeling strength return to him as the Emerald flew towards him and he snatched it from the air. Omega helped Kalia peel herself from the wall before giving her Emerald to her as well. Mephiles rose out the smoke like a vampire would a coffin. "THREAT DETECTED!"

"_Cinos will you be alright!?" Shadow asked clear worry in his voice and he trying not to even hide it. _

"I'll be fine he only hit me once…" Cinos said caressing the emerald in his grasp. The emerald's energy restored his strength, he felt the injury he sustained to lessen as he felt like he could take hits like that every day. His eyes casted toward Kalia who was picking herself up much slower. Rouge was tough and the emerald did help, but she didn't have the power of the Ultimate Lifeform, she'd need more time.

"_Kalia! Oh my god, this will never happen again you hear me. I knew I should've said something, I knew it, I was just so pigheaded…"_ Rouge cried in such genuine concern she almost scared herself. She couldn't believe she let her confidence in her carrier cloud her judgment. It wasn't a good idea she didn't have what it took yet.

"**Now, I suppose the real fight is about to begin?"** Mephiles questioned.

"You bet your ass it is!" Cinos exclaimed speeding forward this time speed restored. He understood this was a construct, he also understood that it was holding back, but he had no idea by how much. He was reminded when he rushed forward with a spin dash meeting Mephiles's fist this time in a full swing and the resulting shockwave knocked him straight into the ground.

"_Cinos let me take over!" _Shadow ordered.

"I got this!" Cinos protested resisting Shadow. Shadow didn't want to risk snatching the reins with Cinos in mid fight. Cinos unleashed a multi arrowed Chaos Spear that smashed into Mephiles actually making the construct slide back. The attack kept being pressed though as Omega started unleashing a barrage of bullets at Mephiles. Mephiles created a shield to make the bullets bounce off him harmlessly. Cinos circled around the barrier to slam into Mephiles from behind making him grunt. Kalia followed up with a powerful screw kick that slammed Mephiles into the ground and slide him against the floor as he was plowed into it. Kalia backed off once she felt that was through and returned to the side of her teammates. They waited with batted breath to see at least some damage from their efforts.

"**The New Team Dark, peh, you're going to have to do a lot better than that to defeat me,"** Mephiles said standing mostly unscathed from the last rounds of attacks.

"Chaos Inferno!" Cinos exclaimed. Omega raised his hands to begin charging his laser cannons. Cinos grabbed his emerald to activate Chaos Control while touching Kalia. This made time move to a stop as Cinos and Kalia rushed forward to begin pounding away at the Mephiles construct. They combined attacks punching, kicking, and slamming the creature into the ground. Cinos and Kalia landed a opposite ends of one another then rushed the construct on head on then both brought themselves forward in a hook kick that plowed the Mephiles construct into the floor. They kicked off for both of them flip off to land on Omega's shoulders, as it appeared the laser was almost done charging. Cinos snapped his fingers for time to return to normal and Omega unleash a super concentrated purple laser cannon that was so large it ripped through the floor, the wall, and possibly outside the castle. Omega's beam ended and the robot's arms grew slack as they feel at his sides. Cinos slid off Omega's shoulder to inspect the smoke closely. "I think we got him…"

As if to show how wrong he is a purple colored spear rushed out the smoke as it parts in it's wake. Cinos twisted his torso while throwing up his hands to dodge the attack. However, it was heading straight for Kalia positioned at Omega's side who was severely drained from that last attack.

"_KALIA!"_ Rouge yelled. Kalia snapped up to see the spear, but she saw it for only a moment. Her vision was obscured as Omega wrapped his arms around the girl then turned for the arrow to pierce right into the back of his armor.

"OMEGA!" Kalia screamed. Suddenly a rush of purple spears began rushing out the smoke making Cinos dance back on his feet avoiding them as best he could. However, he was distraught, exhausted, and using Shadow's chaos powers were always taxing. Shadow wanted to take over so badly, but knew that he would be putting Cinos's body in more danger. A few spears managed to find their way home in Cinos' shoulder, thigh, and hip. Omega was still holding Kalia firmly in his grip not allowed the girl to pull away to find a different form of cover. Omega's armor was holding, but Omega was getting severely damaged as Kalia heard and saw some of the nuts and bolts of Omega falling on the floor around them. The spears finally stopped as the construct revealed himself.

"**Yes, this is the power I was expecting,"** Mephiles stated as the construct was breaking apart, it didn't have a right arm anymore, it looked like cracked glass. "**Such a shame you have to die now," **Mephiles took a single step for spikes to shoot up in a row toward the prone Kalia and Omega. Omega, with the last of his strength, threw Kalia to the side as the spikes run straight through his metal shell.

"OMEGA!" Cinos and Kalia scream. At this moment, Rouge and Shadow take over, knowing that if they continued to stand by then no one would make it out. Rouge rushed toward the construct elegantly avoiding each spear that it launched towards her. She began spinning in the form of a top as she swung her feet into the construct's face like a never ending barrage of kicks. She kicked off of the construct just as he raised his hand to respond. Shadow burst forward in a spin dash that literally took out the construct's legs breaking them apart. It hit the floor harshly as Shadow brought down a full powered Chaos Lance down on the construct shattering it more. Shadow didn't stop though as his rage flowed ever strong as he continued to rain down red death down on the construct over and over again. Shadow would've kept going but something caught his eye and he instantly teleported away just as a spike lashed out at where he was a moment ago. The smoke cleared to see only the torso, part of the left arm, and half of the construct's face was left.

"**What's the matter Shadow, don't have the strength to finish this simple toy,"**

"No, it's not that," Shadow growled. A shadow loomed over Mephiles as he looked up to see Rouge crash down on his head smashing it to pieces against the ground as the rest of it went limp.

"I called dibs," Rouge growled grinding her boot into the remains of the creature.

"We're gone," Shadow said sternly. Rouge nods as she rushes over to Omega with Shadow meeting her there after scouting things out first.

"**But you're gonna miss the best surprise of all…"** Mephiles' voice again rang in the air. Shadow and Rouge looked towards it to gasp in terror of what they saw. Two more constructs waltz out from the darkness of the other room, and they are followed by what appeared to be a black hedgehog with spikes turned upward. However, the hedgehog looked familiar.

"Is…is that…?" Rouge shakily spoke as she tried to fight the horror working its way through her system.

"Sonic's body…" Shadow snarled in complete discontent. Mephiles was truly much viler then he had ever thought was possible.

"**Now, you die, all over again**," Mephiles' voice echoed from all three shells. Each one raised their hand to unleash bluish hue of energy that focused on them.

"Rouge!" Shadow yelled.

"**You'll find your Chaos Control won't work Shadow. This is my world, and I control everything here," **True to his words Shadow's Chaos Control was not working. He didn't know what to do when he was trapped in Mephiles' shadowed world.

"**Shadow…let me…take over…" ** Cinos gasped in utter exhaustion.

"Cinos, now isn't the time,"

"**I can get us out, trust me…**"

"Cinos you can't-,"

"**Please…I don't want to lose everything…"**

Shadow stared down the charge shot about to be fired in their direction. Shadow had nothing, so he figured he may as well give Cinos his chance. They switched and Cinos' hand flew to his chest as his heart felt like it would explode in a moment's notice. He got control of himself though as he motioned for Rouge to come close to Omega's remains. She did as he motioned without question, desperation lacing her face. Cinos places his hands on the ground then closed his eyes to concentrate. He'd never done this before, and was only guessing how it worked. But he was extremely gifted…so maybe he may be just gifted enough.

"**Good-bye again, Shadow the hedgehog," **Mephiles called as he fired his blast toward the three members of Team Dark. The shadows shifted under the light and then an explosion. Mephiles' puppets studied the dust cloud for any remains. When it did clear he was thoroughly shocked to see that there was nothing left, nothing. He knew he was powerful, but he was aiming on leaving something left. Evern a robot part should be around so where could they have gone. Mephiles was quiet as if searching and then a laugh escaped into the air. "**HAHAHA, well done, well done indeed carrier of Shadow the Hedgehog. Managing such a feat was a stroke of geniuses I'll give him that. But that was luck of the draw and nothing more. I suppose there is no point in chasing after them…they've already moved too faraway now that they are beyond my walls. I shall let the beast do what they do," **the constructs merge into the floor as Mephiles, in control of Sonic's body, backed into the shadows to merge into the wall. He reemerged into what appeared to be a lavish throne room, at least for a demon anyway. Darkness swirled all around the room as a pulsing cocoon sat in the middle of the floor, pulsating. "**Soon, my transformation will be complete, and I will simple take the emeralds myself. Let the children play, let my message ring clear, as play time is drawing to an anticlimactic end…"**


	22. The Way of the Warrior

_**The Wielders of Chaos part 22**_

"_**The Way of the Warrior,"**_

A lot of damage has been done to the planet in the short span of a year. Vegetation all over the globe has all but died out, rivers and lakes have dried up, and once lush savannahs become barren wastelands. The air is taste harsh and burnt. Breathing it in can scratch your throat and hurt your lungs as this becomes a clear sign that even the air we breathe is becoming poisonous too. Even the very continental plates are not unaffected. They all have shifted dramatically changing weather patterns, if the lack of a sun wasn't enough. It is still amazing how the world could've survived as long as it did without one, but the Earth's population has easily been cut in half, so many deaths, and many more to follow if something isn't done. Currently a small biplane moving at a speed comparable to fighter jet is soaring through the sky over the cold dead ocean. The ocean is completely still as no waves sway and the ocean current seemingly nonexistent. The pilot grimaces but not at the sight all around him, more so at his passenger sitting behind him. The biplane is a mock version of the tornado, after Rob had made some adjustments with Tails' help. The paint job is a sleek crimson red plane with a small turbine engine underneath to boost speed. Rob had honestly never flown a plane before and he claimed his father was a pilot so the plane was originally his. However, since bonding with Tails he's received the practiced reflexes of an ace pilot he only needs Tails to guide him in the controls which was not too difficult for him to understand.

However, back to why Rob is grimacing. The reason is sitting behind him, his friend Miles who is currently looking rather empty. His eyes appear like voids as he stares outward towards the skies with no clear emotion on his face. He has had this same look the moment they had left Central City. The journey had started out with levity since Rob was getting used to the plane with Tails directing him, Sonic giving his two cents, Tails quickly telling him he was incorrect, and then Sonic responding that he himself was a pretty average pilot, but then Tails reminds him with who the ace pilot is. All of that within the first twenty minutes of the flight that was projected to take about two hours. So far it has been an hour and fifteen minutes and frankly Rob was beginning to grow concerned.

"I'm sorry…" Rob says rather suddenly. It takes Miles a few moments to realize Rob directed that towards him. Miles turns his head to look at the back of Rob's head.

"For what?" Even Miles' voice sounded devoid of feeling.

"You were supposed to go on this mission alone, but me coming complicated things. Plus since I'm not as fast as you we had to take a slower way to get to the East which eats up what little time we have. In the amount of time it has taken us getting there, you would've been there started solving the problem and been back,"

"There's no guarantee it would go like that," Miles says returning to staring upward into the sky. "Besides, I said I don't mind, you don't have to convince me about you coming is a good thing or not,"

"But still…you and Commander Tower had that fight because of me," Rob says with his shoulders dropping a bit.

"So…we argue…that's got nothing to do with you,"

"_But still we would like to know what's wrong,_" Tails voice speaks up.

"It's not important," Miles responds.

"Yeah it kind of is dude. A lot of the guys we've met have been pretty open about who they are, some guys from other worlds, timelines, and all sorts of stuff. But through all them…I honestly know you the least…it sounds like you came from Soleana, but you're not originally from there. You know the commander and G.U.N, but you won't say from where. What's with all the secrets?"

"They aren't secrets…I'm not hiding anything important. I'm here and I'm with you, that's all that's important,"

"Maybe…but you're willing to help me…I just would, ya know, like to return the favor,"

"_Listen Rob, Miles understands what you mean and he does care. But…" _Sonic pauses as if he isn't sure this is something he should say. "_But, Miles has been alone for a while during this long year. He has a tendency to shut people out, so give him some time he'll warm up,"_

Rob glances back to see Miles still with a faraway look in his eyes, as if he has completely clocked out of the conversation. Rob frowns out of frustration. He has grown to respect Miles as both a friend, teammate, and leader. However, that didn't change the fact that Rob was not the best people person, machines he could fix easy, but people were a complex mechanism he steered away from. But he knew one thing, if he did intend to help Miles, he needed to understand the reason he's so melancholy. He looks ahead to see that land is approaching up ahead.

"Seems like we've arrived sooner than expected," Rob says glancing at his onboard GPS.

"_That's good, put her down on the beach and we'll move the rest of the way on foot," _Sonic instructs.

"Uh, right…landing…" Rob mutters as he stares blankly at the controls.

"Well here is my stop then," Miles says suddenly flipping out his seat and onto the wing of the plane.

"W-Wait, what do you-," he got his answer as Miles leaped off the wing of the plane. "Ugh, that jerk thinks we'll crash!" Rob grinds his teeth as he shifts his focus, since landing is indeed the hardest part about flying. Rob steers the ship towards the beach.

"_Easy, Rob, easy now…now pull the nose up but not too fast…steady…steady…" _Tails voice was rather nervous himself. Rob had the inclination that he wanted to dip out like Miles did. Rob manages to steady the plane to begin rolling against the sand. However, no one bothered to tell him how difficult it is to keep a plane steady on sand. "_BRAKES, HIT THE BRAKES!"_

"I'm trying!"

"_The landing is no good, pull up, pull up!"_

"You do it!" Suddenly the plane comes to a sharp stop that made Rob almost collide with the dashboard face first if not for his safety belt. "Ow…" the sharp lurch made the belt put tremendous pressure on his bones along with the crash. He looked to see that a boulder had been the sudden brake he was looking for.

"Nice landing," Miles states standing a few feet away.

"You could've done something!" Rob exclaims waving his fist. He quickly climbs out to inspect the damage. He sees that the propeller was dented pretty badly along with the nose.

"_I've seen worse, we should be able to fix it for take-off,"_ Tails says his voice now completely even in contrast to his panicking. Rob frowns at the damage though despite how at ease Tails is.

"_Ya know what they say, any landing you can walk away from is a good landing,"_ Sonic says with a snicker in his voice.

"That's debatable," Miles responds with arms crossed.

"_And no one says that,"_ Tails mutters.

"_Whatever you negative nancies can do what you want. But we gotta track down Eggman,"_

"Right…and how do we do that again?" Rob asks scratching his head.

"You can leave that to me," Miles says placing a hand on Rob's shoulder. "We'll head toward the nearest town and you can see if you can find any information on your parents. My mission will most likely be the most dangerous, so I may be out of contact so-,"

"Wait," Rob says sharply shrugging Miles' hand off. "You're ditching me?"

"What, you wanted to come to find your parents right? So I'm telling you to go ahead and go do that. Once you find them you can take the biplane and fly back to Central City with them. I'll catch up with you either over the water or at the base,"

"Oh I stand corrected, you want me to ditch you!" Rob exclaims completely undignified. "I'm not going to leave you here by yourself,"

"You were just saying a few minutes ago how I should've been on this mission alone," Miles reminds with a raised eyebrow.

"That was five minutes ago before the crash! The whiplash put things in perspective, it's one thing to be a continent over, but it's something else when I can very well help you,"

"I'm not picking a fight with a country, I'm just looking for someone who doesn't belong, scouting mission," Miles says as he began trekking through the thicket of the foreign land. He noticed that the vegetation was quite different to what he was used to. He looks to see the forest is a bamboo forest, but the bamboo itself looks sick and ill. Miles merely flicked one for the entire thing to fall apart to ashes.

"Even so…" Rob said trying his best to ignore that bamboo turned ash as he traveled at Miles' heels. "This is unfamiliar territory for you, who knows what else could be lying in wait here?"

"Rob, you don't need to help me, you should be worried about finding your folks,"

"Well right now I'm worried about you!" Rob exclaims quickly cutting into Miles path to stare up at him sternly. "You're not yourself right now, this isn't you at all, I can't knowingly let you go off when your head isn't screwed on right. You think you're okay, but if an anti-social misfit like me can see you're not then we have issues. We're friends, right?"

"Yeah,"

"Not just because Sonic and Tails are like brothers, right?"

"Well it's why we work together, but we we're cool before you became a Carrier,"

"I thought so too," Rob says speaking sternly. "As your friend, I don't want to help because I have to, I want to help because I want to. Two heads are better than one Miles, so please don't shut me out," Miles takes a few moments to take in Rob's words. He realizes that Rob's never really had good friends before, so when Miles started sealing himself up Rob no doubt got scared. Rob was desperate to make sure that Miles still wanted to be his friend, crazy thing was Rob didn't even realize that's what he was doing.

"Alright Rob, you win, we'll stick together," Miles said finally caving. Rob visible relaxes after hearing this. "But you're gonna have to keep up okay,"

"Alright then,"

Miles quickly picked up the pace as he dashes out into the bamboo forest with Rob flying over his shoulder using the twin tails that sprout out his lower back. The two quickly move toward the Heart of the Dragon Kingdom taking good care to observe their surroundings. Even with the world dying, the area still felt vastly different to their country. It made little sense, but the land still seemed to have a richness that didn't seem to perish even in this bleak period of time. Miles glances over the landscape taking in each detail, noting the mountain ranges in the distance, archaic architecture, and many stone paths. Miles knew that the best place to head in the Dragon Kingdom would be the capital Chu-nan, the best place to start as any. As the capital it would be the largest and could operate as a sort of shelter from all the chaos in this part of the world. Miles and Rob did notice many monsters roaming around, the common Dark Feral, but also a different type of monster. They were much smaller in stature, humanoid in shape, with six arms and in each they carried a ninja weapon of some kind.

"Wonder what those are?" Rob questioned.

"_They seemed modeled after one of the ninja clans here, the spider ninja clan. We had actually met them before, maybe they can help us," _Tails suggested.

"Oh right ninjas are still pretty popular here. What is up with that anyway?" Rob questions.

"There are Four Houses of ninjas The Shinobi Clan, the Raiju Clan, the Gossamer Clan, and the Yagyu Clan are the major factions within this country. These four factions have been fighting for control for a really long time with the free people who aren't with any clan to be caught in the middle. It can get pretty crazy here from what I understand," Miles explains from the briefing he had received for his mission. "If any clan would be willing to help us it's the Shinobi Clan, they are really great informants. Of course, it's just pretty much impossible to track one though,"

"Aren't they like a pack of chameleons, it would be impossible to see one?"

"Yeah…"

"Well good thing you got me then," Rob speeds up a bit to arrive at Miles' side to hand over a pair of goggles as he has another pair to place over his eyes. Miles looks at Rob confused. "They're chameleons, camouflage isn't invisibility with these we can track them. Plus they have infrared sight since they still give off heat,"

"When did you make these?" Miles questions looking the goggles over.

"Just some gadgets I like to tinker with, never know what you might need,"

"Always prepared, cool," Miles places the goggles on then looks through the lens. "Okay how do they work?"

"Maybe I can give you a crash course when we aren't moving at 500 mph," Rob said narrowly avoiding a bamboo tree. Miles shrugs as he focuses on the path in front of them again. He knew Chu-nan was based alongside the mountainside of the largest mountain. Miles pushes a little harder to knowing he'd have to move to a higher elevation quickly. Rob staggered feeling his limits being pushed harder than he was used too. Miles glanced back at him but Rob refused to let the stress show as he straightened up his body to push to arrive right at Miles' hip. Miles smirks at Rob's tenacity but is startled when Rob latches onto his arm suddenly and quickly pulls up.

"Rob what are you-?" Miles doesn't finish as he was just barely out of range of a katana that slice the air where his head had been. "Whoa!"

"You're welcome," Rob responds dropping him back on his feet. They stare at their assailants to see they are those weird monsters modeled after one of the ninja clans.

"_They look like Gossamer ninja, the spider clan_," Tails observed.

"_Careful guys, if they're anything like the real deal they are super dangerous when they catch you off guard," _Sonic points out. Within seconds they were completely surrounded by six of these ninja wannabes. Miles mashes his teeth raising his fist as he refuses to allow them the first move not allowing the ninja monsters to take advantage of their situation. He bashes into the ninja with his elbow. The upper arms hold twin katana, the middle hold ninja sai, and the last empty handed. It took all of Miles' reflexes to back away without being impaled by something sharp. He slid back on his feet to glance back at Rob who kept the monsters at a distance. He points out his gloved hands to fire concussion beams from his palms. The ninja moved elegantly between each blast and one managed to throw a shuriken at Rob. It would've struck had Miles not moved in to quickly cover Rob. However, the sharp object found its way into Mile's shoulder. Miles pushes Rob aside roughly as he moves in to deliver a supersonic uppercut into the ninja's jaw in response. The other five ninja rush at him quickly to overwhelm him. Miles used his light speed attack to quickly take apart each enemy coming his way. The ninja dropped to the ground one after another, but they still remained ready to fight. Rob quickly took care of a few from the air using his concussion blasts to smash them to pieces. Miles quickly performed a judo sacrifice throw to one ninja slamming them to the ground, and then followed with a roundhouse that was blocked by another. Miles found himself becoming overwhelmed again rather quickly and he noticed that the sharp pointy objects were getting much better at poking his skin.

"Hey guys chill those are sharp!" Miles exclaims rolling along a ninja's back and kicking off another after the roll.

"Miles careful!" Rob said kicking a ninja away from Miles' blindside.

"Stay up Rob!" Miles exclaims blocking a series of blows with his right forearm.

"You need help down here!" Rob exclaims. Miles mashes his teeth as jumps back. Miles curls into a ball to rush forward in a spin dash that smashes through the ninja monsters to pieces. Miles screeches to a halt to catch his breath as Rob rejoins them. "You okay?"

"Yeah…" he responds in a hoarse voice.

"Uh…you look kinda cut up and… you got a shuriken in your shoulder still," Miles glances down to the item protruding from his shoulder. He yanks to object out with a wince before tossing it over his shoulder. "Ya know, I can help you so you didn't need to take on that pack of monsters all by yourself,"

"I could handle it I just needed you to be on the lookout for more,"

"You don't have to handle everything alone ya know,"

"I don't know what you mean," Miles said rolling his injured shoulder. Rob rolls his eyes then floats up using his tails with a roll of bandages. "I heal pretty quick ya know,"

"The throwing star was made from some demonic energy, it doesn't hurt to make sure you're okay," He said as he moves Miles's vest off his shoulder to get a better look at the injury. True to Miles' words the wound was healing but it was still bleeding more then he thought a wound of that size should. He pulls up Miles' sleeve to begin tightly wrapping a bandage around the wound. Miles sighs as he keeps his eyes focused on their environment to make sure no other sneak attacks catch them off guard. Rob finishes up then backs away to study his work. "I guess that should stop the bleeding, but even with your healing you should be careful. You're more human than hedgehog,"

"I'll remember that, we should keep moving toward the city, hopefully we may even be safer,"

"_I would imagine so since the city stretches all over the mountains," _Tails informed them.

"Sounds like we need to go up," Rob said pointing toward the mountains in the farther distance. Miles nods in the direction as he quickly runs off with Rob right on his heels. Traveling at their speed they arrived at the base of the first mountain with ease. Miles moved to scale right up the side of it but before he could Rob hooked his arms underneath Miles' shoulders to lift him up. He activated his rocket shoes to increase their thrust upward at a quick pace. "This way is much easier," Rob says before Miles could protest to the assistance. Once they arrived at a large outcropping of rock Rob placed Miles down to scope out where Chu-nan may lie.

"There I see smoke," Miles points out quickly toward the other side of a mountain peak to see a waft of smoke in the air.

"Alright, let's check it out," Rob said. As soon as he was done speaking Miles leaps off the cliff into the air. He was preparing to run through the valley but Rob hooked his arms underneath him again. Miles groans at this as his fear of heights was starting to get to him. He could handle jumping off cliffs now, he could handle his fears much better when falling, but now flying in the air beyond his control made him feel extremely uncomfortable. Rob seemed to not notice in the slightest as they fly through the air smoothly toward the origin of the smoke.

"Just try not to look down…" he muttered to himself keeping his eyes glued upward or forward refusing to look down.

"Miles are you okay, you seem to be freaking out?" Rob questions finally taking note of Miles' strange behavior.

"I-I just d-don't do well with heights…"

"What, but I've seen you leap off stuff and fall from high places before!"

"Yeah and I'd never have to look down, but flying…just makes me…a little edgy,"

"Why didn't you just say so, I thought you just like doing things the hard way," Rob said as he begins to descend down toward another cliff to allow Miles to get his feet back on the ground. After that Miles seems to recover his nerve as he relaxes considerable. Rob also quickly realizes that earlier Miles' face wasn't just about what happened with the Commander and him, he simply doesn't fly well. "I would've never guessed you had a fear of heights,"

"I'm starting to get over it…it's just flying that freaks me out,"

"_Sonic used to be the same way. He hated when his feet wasn't on the ground," _Tails adds to reassure Miles.

"_Hey, nothing beats solid ground, that's all I gotta say,"_ Sonic retorts.

"Right, well, we'd better get down this mountain into the village, we'll get a better idea of the conditions when we get there," Miles gestures to the city bellow them, that reminded them very much of a small village. However, that was the appearance Chu-nan takes that is very deceiving to travelers. The people call it a village, while foreigners call it a city because of its economic power in the Dragon Kingdom, and the great importance it holds to the people in the Dragon Kingdom. It was completely composed to compliment nature instead of pave over it. Paths carved into, around, and through mountains. There are also old temples with huts, flavorful food, and the mountain air is wondrous to take in. Miles and Rob arrive at the entrance of the village surprised they encountered no form of defense on their way. Surely the people would not just let themselves be overtaken by monsters without as much as a struggle of some sort.

"Hmm, I don't think they would just leave themselves vulnerable like this," Rob said scratching his chin. He took his own pair of Spec Googles to flip the switch on the side of the lens. He balked sharply as he yanked Miles to a stop.

"What, ya see something?" Miles asked glancing around still seeing no one.

"Put yours on and see," Miles obliged as he slid on his own pair of the goggles. After a quick tutorial on the functions from Rob he flipped his own to have a similar reaction as Rob. It turns out that they were being watched by several Shinobi ninja scatted all over the entrance. None approached as each on of them stood still as statues all facing their direction. They may not have noticed that they have been spotted. "Should we say something?"

"_Nah, I say let em do their thing. They don't know that you guys can see them right now, so they feel they have the advantage,"_ Sonic said.

"Even if we could see them they'd have the advantage, there must be like thirty Shinobi Ninjas out here alone," Rob responds sharply.

"And we thought we'd have a hard time trying to find em, but let's act casual. We don't want them to feel threatened do we?" Miles said stepping forward toward the entrance of the city. "Oh gosh golly gee, I do declare that we are weary travelers that sure could use shelter from our long travel and battling monsters!"

"Really, is that your way of being subtle?!" Rob hisses in a yell/whisper with a pointed glare.

"Yeah…"

"Ugh, come on let's not waste time let's see if there are any people around," Rob said walking past the gate to stare at the feudal architecture of Chu-nan. There was no one around, just a barren city and no people around. Miles and Rob glance between each other before continuing. They decide to also scope out the condition of the town to see how the people could be surviving. The water supply seemed to be almost dried up, the town was quite cluttered which is a characteristic to an overpopulation of people, and oddly enough personal items were left unattended like shoes, bags, or steaming hot tea. As if every single person left in a really hurried fashion. "It seems like everyone was evacuated…"

"Yeah, but to where?"

"_And why?" _ Tails adds with clearly concerned sound in his voice. "_Stay frosty you two, I have a feeling that the ninja weren't on the lookout for you two…"_

At this statement the two are put on edge as they quickly get on guard to anything that may be a threat in the area. The ninja that surrounded them seemed to notice there sudden stiffness but were still focused on other things. Suddenly, it all happened at once like a bomb went off or an alarm that set everything into action. The ninja monsters from before came crashing down onto the city from above smashing into the ground. Not only those monsters based on Gossamar ninja, but also Yagyu based monsters, and Raigu ninja monsters as well.

"Whoa!" Miles exclaimed leaping back dodging ninja throwing stars as Rob quickly moves to the side dodging a sword swipe. "Where the heck did these guys come from!?"

"They're ninja don't ask," Rob responds flying backwards to avoid being swarmed. Miles quickly engaged the enemies around him with as much he could from blocking and avoiding each attack coming his way. He used his forearm to block a flying kick, he used his other hand to push a blade of its path of skewering him, and while also tripping up another monster. "At least these guys are smaller than the monsters we usually fight,"

"But there are a lot more of em!" Miles exclaims delivering an uppercut to another monster.

"But at least we aren't alone, the Shinobi ninja are helping out too," At Rob's observation Miles does notice that the Shinobi ninja are indeed fighting along with them, though their numbers were dwindling quickly. Miles swung around to deliver a roundhouse that deflected another monster before he quickly tearing through the monsters with a spindash. However, suddenly a demonic chain wrapped around his torso tying him up as he crashes to the ground harshly.

"Miles!" Rob exclaims flying towards him.

"Watch your back!" Miles responds as he fights against the chains noting that they were too thick for him to break. He couldn't spin free with how tight they were either. A Raigu ninja monster approaches which Miles notices are in the form of Lynxs, very aggressive mobians. Miles quickly closes his eyes to concentrate as he begins to vibrate quickly. The intense vibrations on the chains weakens them enough for him to shake them apart to free himself. This surprised the ninja so Miles quickly grabbed his broken chain then quickly began revving his legs dashing through the crowd of monster ninjas. He turns sharply while releasing his reluctant passenger to send him traveling into other monsters. Miles falls to a knee trying to catch his breath, vibrations always found a way to wind him extremely. He'd need a moment. Luckily, a rain of laser fire came from the sky from Rob as he joins him shortly swiftly kicking a gossamer ninja monster in the face as he came down.

"Miles you okay?"

"I'll…be fine…" Miles gasps as he still tries to regain his breath with a hand on his chest. His heart was beating so fast he thought it might leap out up his throat. A speedster is at his most vulnerable with he's tired, he was far too reckless with vibrating knowing he didn't have a lot of stamina with the technique. He knew even with Rob's indirect fighting style, he'd tire out eventually.

"My gloves can only shoot so many times before I overload them. We need to figure something out before they get there," Rob informed Miles as he was quickly blasting out bright azure beams of light. Miles takes a deep breath trying to settle his heartbeat. He was doing his part of covering Rob's back. He pushes his arms straight out then starts spinning them at supersonic speed to create a whirlwind. The funnel was shot out stronger then Miles was prepared for though, so he was blown back on his feet just as much as the monsters were. Miles crashes into Rob's back making both boys crash to the ground. Miles quickly threw his leg up in an arc kick as one ninja tried to capitalize on their moment of weakness. But it wasn't the only way as suddenly they were surrounded as were staring down numerous shapr pointy things. However, suddenly they were not surrounded as kunai ninja knives slash the monsters to pieces all simultaneously.

"Huh?" both boys question as they notice the Shinobi ninja surrounding them. The ninja stared them down sternly and unflinching. Miles and Rob glance around to notice that the hordes of monsters are dwindling and that the only thing being taken care of was the few stragglers left behind.

"I guess we won…" Miles mutters.

"That's great, so can you get off me now," Rob groans.

"You two," A Shinobi ninja approaches them. Miles and Rob both realize that they still had their goggles on so they removed them and were happy to see the chameleon ninja were not camouflaged at the moment. The ninja that approached them is sky blue in color, brown gloves, and a red beret on his head. "Who are you and why are you here?"

"We come from Central City from across the Great Ocean. We've come to see if we can lend some support and if you could help us," The chameleon scoffs at them.

"You came here to get help from a dying kingdom,"

"You guys aren't dead yet, and we can see why," Rob points out.

"We are the very last line of defense for this Kingdom, there is no one left. If we should fall so too will the Dragon Kingdom,"

"It's that bad over here, we had no idea…" Rob gasps as his heart sunk at this news. With such a dire situation he wondered if his parents were even alive. "Maybe we can help you,"

"With what we witnessed we think we'd be better off without your help," commented another ninja.

"We're on the same side here guys," Miles points out.

"You came here to help this dying nation?" the blue chameleon shakes his head. "No I don't believe that otherwise I would expect a lot more skill and numbers if that were the case. Since only two of you were sent that must means you are merely scouts with no real political power on your homeland. All you can do is make empty promises as take advantage of our desperate hopes,"

"_Wow…this guy is good…_" Sonic mutters lowly.

Rob roughly pushes Miles off of him finally to quickly stand to his feet. "Listen, you need help, we're willing to give it. What have you got to lose besides your nation and life? There is almost nothing left,"

"Which is why we must savor what we have left," he narrows his eyes at Rob.

"What if I told you I had a message?" Miles said standing to his feet.

"A message from whom?" the chameleon makes a face as if he intends to only humor them.

"From Espio,"

Every single Shinobi ninja stiffens at the name as their jaws clench, their fists tighten, and their eyes go sharp. "Speak your next words carefully, we do not take kindly to the abuse of our elite's memory,"

"Here," Miles extends a simple white envelope to the blue chameleon which he raises an eyebrow at before snatching it away to quickly open it and read it.

"When did you get that?" Rob questions leaning in to whisper.

"After my fight with the Chaotix Espio suggested I take some insurance, good thing he did too," The Blue chameleon clears his throat to snatch back their attention. He stares them both down thoroughly as if scanning their very souls for ill intent.

"Either this is the best forgery or this is really Espio…how is this possible?"

"We'd be happy to explain, but we did travel a long way and walked right into a warzone. We'd be eternally grateful if you could allow us a chance to recuperate,"

The ninja stared them down sternly before nodding. "Fair enough, show them to the Bride's Inn and give the people the all clear so they may leave their bunkers,"

"Yes Veldez," Without any complaints, though some unsure looks were given, two of the chameleon ninjas gestured for Miles and Rob to follow them. Miles and Rob look at each other before shrugging to follow after them. The ninja did not make following them easy though as they quickly began scaling walls and dashing across rooftops. Even with this added hurdle in their path, Rob and Miles kept up with both ninja without too much difficulty. Being that both were both capable of high levels of speed it was not difficult to catch up with them. They found themselves walking along a path known as the Dragon Road higher up along the mountainside.

"This has got to be the worst Inn, who would go to the trouble of rooming into this place?" Miles complains quickly jogging along with Rob on his right flying.

"Well, that guy did mention that it was the Bride's Inn. Maybe this place is only for really important political figures which does make this spot ideal to guard them if that is the case," Rob points out to Miles as he gestures toward the building sitting on the side of the mountain. "And it's probably built to stand the test of time, who knows how long it's been here and it still holds up. Drangon Kingdom architecture may be archaic but it is really ingenious,"

"Know it all," Miles remarked poking Rob in the side of his head.

"We are here," Interrupted one of the ninja as they gestured to the Inn. Like Rob pointed out, the building was built into the side of the mountain. Red stone decorated the outside and formed pillars that held up the roof. The establishment was made from a rich cherry colored wood, decorated with a green roof with golden trim on the edges, tinted green windows on the second floor with crystal clear ones on the first floor. Paper lanterns decorated the outside as they are being lit to prepare for the coming of the greater darkness that will take over the land. It was quite a beautiful place despite the conditions they faced and the view was easily breathtaking being to look over all of Chu-nan.

"Cool," both boys mutter.

"Why do you bring these outsiders here!" declared a voice. Suddenly four ninja had them surrounded which Miles and Rob recognized as Gossamer ninja. "Do you risk to endanger us further?"

"We we're ordered to, besides, it is an order from our lost ally," The chameleon ninja responded sternly.

"Just because this ally of yours is so important does not mean that he matters to us. We will not allow them anywhere near our bride!"

"We aren't enemies," Miles said quickly jumping in before things escalated. "We're here to help you trust me and we mean no harm. We can explain everything to your bride, and then if you allow us we can help you. Then maybe you can give us some information,"

"You dare make demands of us!?" questioned the Gossamer ninja.

"It's called a compromise," The ninja attacked without hesitation. Luckily they did not brandish weapons. Miles quickly slipped between the grapple while holding onto Rob's arm. In a blur of motion he dealt out a blow for each ninja taking them down one by one. It all happened at once none of them were sure what had occurred.

"Fast…" one them muttered in surprise.

"Yeah, so just chill okay, we don't have to get violent,"

"You don't want us to see your bride, but allow us to get an audience with the Shinobi clan bride then," Rob points out.

"That will no longer be an option," came a woman's voice behind them. Everyone turns to look at the entrance of the Inn to see three prominent figures standing there. "You have acquired the attention of the Brides of all three houses," spoke the Bride of Constant Vigil.

"Whoops, I don't think that was the plan…" Miles mutters.

"But let's use it to our advantage," Rob points out.

"Speak now, while you fools still can," barked the Bride of the Conquering Storm, leader of the Raiju clan most likely.

"Yes, we are here from over the Great Ocean, we are agents of G.U.N here to assist you with the situation and hoping that you might be able to help us with something,"

"What is it that you want from us?" questioned the Bride of Endless Reach.

"Information on the whereabouts of Dr. Eggman and any other information you can offer," At this statement only two of the Brides flinched back at the news.

"And what are you willing to do for this information?" the Bride of Constant Vigil was the one who did not flinch most likely knowing some information on the whereabouts of the doctor. The Shinobi clan does thrive on information and being the one's most informed.

"Risk our necks," Miles blurted out which earned him an elbow from Rob.

"He means we're willing to assist you with anything you may need here. If you need it we can get it to you," Rob says.

"And what makes you brats so qualified?" demanded to the Bride of Conquering Storm.

"Well, we have these," Rob gestures to Miles as he himself reveals his Chaos Emerald as Miles shows his. This caught the eye of everyone there. "Also, these Chaos Emeralds hold the spirits of two of the world's greatest heroes. Sonic the hedgehog and-,"

"Sonic the hedgehog is in that rock?" Conquering Storm sharply cuts him off as she glares at Miles' emerald assuming the color matched up with the hedgehog.

"Yes, and Tails," Rob said with a frown as he heard a snicker coming from both Sonic and Miles. "With these emeralds we have their powers and then some. You have the power of Sonic the Hedgehog on your side right now, so how is that for a deal?"

The three brides shared looks between one another. Each one then turned back toward the two, "We will consider your offer,"

"Uh, how long will that take?"

"We do not know, but we shall return to you as soon as we have reached an agreement,"

"_Ugh, we don't have time for this_," Sonic mutters.

"_Well, we'll have to make time she's the one we really need on our side. Maybe you should've saved the letter for Espio's mom_," Tails points out.

"It'll get to her, and once it does she'll come to a decision. Till then we should take a rest," Miles steps toward the Inn but is blocked by more ninja. "What, we're not enemies!"

"That has not been decided, besides you are not welcomed to stay with our brides as they have not invited you in," a Raiju ninja speaks to him sternly.

"Well where are we supposed to go?" Rob demands.

"Maybe I can help you both," spoke an old voice. Attention shifted to an old man walk up the path to approach both boys.

"_Hmmm…this guy looks familiar…" _Sonic mutters.

"I'm the village elder, nice to meet you both,"

"Right, nice to meet you I'm Miles and this is my friend Rob,"

"Hello,"

"Well glad you path made it here safely. If you have no place to stay you are free to stay with my family and I,"

"Really, are you sure?" Rob asks.

"Yes, quite sure, we have the room and I'm sure you two can bring some excitement into my home. This darkness is spreading in more ways than one,"

"Thanks so much, I'd be happy to take you back down the mountain if you want," Miles offers.

"Oh my thank you, but I was actually on my way to the temple further up the mountain. I was hoping to check on the Guardian and see if it could help in this dire situation,"

"Guardian?" Miles and Rob questioned.

"_Huh, I remember that…when the planet broke apart there was this phoenix that guarded this particular temple. With this darkness all around and Dark Gaia energy loose again, I think it'd be unsafe for the old man to go,"_

"_Sonic has a point, last time the Phoenix was out of control," _Tails points out.

"Well sir, as thanks for giving us a place to stay leave checking on the Guardian to me," Miles insists. "Rob you take our new friend here back to his house down the mountain and check back up with me if you can. I should be there and back in no time,"

"Well I do appreciate that young man. It is a good point that you'd probably make it there faster than myself as it took longer than expected with that attack and on all. My grandson could learn a thing or two from you if he cut out the snacking," the Village elder said with a small chuckle.

"Miles you're doing it again," Rob says with crossed arms.

"Sonic is familiar with the Phoenix, and it's supposed to be a force for good. It shouldn't be anything dangerous,"

"It's going to be night-night soon, everything is about to be put into lockdown,"

"I'll be back before then, if not, then we'll both be outside of lockdown," Miles gives a quick salute before dashing off down Dragon Road.

"Oh my, so fast, reminds me that blue hedgehog that came for a visit a while back. I hope he's doing well, he was a very nice boy,"

"Yeah, well I know he'll need my help so we should get back quickly," Rob hoist up the old man to fly back down the mountain.

Miles dashes down Dragon Road moving quickly as he follows Sonic's directions to the Gaia temple. The temple was much, much deeper into the mountain that Miles realizes that there would be no way the old man may be able to make the trip in a few hours. It would probably take him half a day to just get there. However, at Miles' speed he was easily shattering that time moving at supersonic speed. He rushes over a large mostly empty lake with barely any water to spray around as he runs. Miles does take notice of the lack of monsters in the area. The Dragon Kingdom was supposed to be on the edge of being completely devastated. He expected a lot more destruction but the geography remained intact. Even the infrastructure of the Chu-nan remained mostly intact. So why was it that the region was in the process of stepping over the edge into disaster? Miles hadn't the foggiest idea why and Sonic is just as confused. The ninja monsters were different, dangerous, but still even those seem manageable. The question is what is driving this area to the brink of devastation.

"_It should be right up ahead_," Sonic explained. Miles ran through an open giant gateway to go sprinting down toward a platform surrounded with bamboo. He looks ahead and he assumed the giant structure before him is the Gaia Temple Sonic had mentioned. Miles slowly approached the center of the ring until he hears a loud roar from above him. Miles looks up into the air for a large shadow to come following towards him. Miles jumps back into a backhand spring to land on his feet dodging the mass that slammed into the ground. When the dust settled Miles sees a magnificent golden phoenix, a colorful tail pattern that reminded him of a peacock, and massive wings. The creature seemed injured from its appearance as it is covered in bruises.

"Is this it?" Miles questions as he approaches the creature. It is still conscious as it looks at Miles trying to raise its head to him. Miles gently rubs the creatures head. "Relax, just lie still and rest,"

"_Wonder what could've done this to it?"_

"**That birds light would be a problem in the long run,"** comes a dark voice from behind Miles. The boy spins around just as a figure smashes into the ground. Miles stands on guard as he raises his hands ready to protect the injured Phoenix. When Miles saw the figure his eyebrows raised. It looked like an Ox, armor on his torso and chest, a large mallet in his right hand, a steel helmet on his head, and horns protruding from his head.

"_T-The…The Iron King!?"_

"The Iron King, who is that?" Miles questions.

"**The Iron King is the reason the entire Dragon Kingdom is jeopardy. This nation would be much harder to fight against I noticed with so many beings ready to stand up and fight against me. I had to make sure this region was put under my thumb first and foremost. As their ninjas fell I took their bodies and remade them into my monsters. The Iron Dominion though, I saw them as being a problem…"**

"Who is that voice speaking?" Miles whispers.

"_It's Mephiles…"_

"**You boy, holder of Sonic the hedgehog, will not be making the journey back home. You above all the others must die, I cannot allow you to survive. With this body I have taken it should prove very easy to do,"**

"Yeah whatever you say Mephiles, I'll take him down no problem!" Miles charged forward at super speed then leaped forward for a hook kick. To his surprise the Iron King did not try to dodge or falter. However, Miles felt an extremely painful sensation crawl up his leg after making contact that made him crash to the ground. Miles yelled out in pain as he held his leg. He notices a shadow loom over him and sees the Iron King raise his mallet. He quickly rolls to the side get his feet under him as the mallet breaks into the ground. Miles leaps forward to deliver a superman punch into the Iron King's jaw, but received a similar painful experience. "Feels like a I broke my hand…"

"_This is bad Miles, attacks like that won't work on him if this really is a copy of the Iron King,"_

"**This is no copy Sonic, this is the actual body of Jax-ur, the Iron King. I took control of this powerful body after his bravado got him infected with my poison that took over his mind. Then I used you him to kill his Iron Queen, silencing her once and for all,"**

"_Oh dear lord…Miles, run, you can't take this guy!"_

"What are you talking about, he's big, slow, and easy to predict?" Miles says balancing on the Iron King's shoulder to dodge a horizontal swing from his mallet.

"_He's invulnerable…"_

"What do you mean invulnerable?"

"**As in…" **Miles curled up to shoot off into a spin dash into the Iron King's chest but he ricochets off without the Iron King flinching. "**You can't hurt me but…" **The Iron King suddenly grabs Miles' ankle then slams him into the ground harshly, he does the same again, again, and again until he tosses Miles into the air to smash him with his mallet. Miles goes soaring until he smashes into the concrete of the platform surrounded by a smoke cloud. "**I can definitely hurt you,"**

"_Miles, can you hear me? Miles!" _ Sonic exclaims. The Iron King casually approaches as Miles lay on the ground prone and clearly unconscious. The possessed Iron King stands over Miles' prone form and raises his mallet to deliver the killing blow. "_MILES!"_

Suddenly, a hail of laser beams come raining down from the sky destroying part of the Iron King's footing. Before he could get it back again a foot smashes into his face sending him to the ground. The figure turns out to be Rob who quickly rushes over to Miles' prone form on the ground. He manages to get Miles off the floor shouldering his weight as body lay on his back. Rob knew he couldn't fly with Miles let alone escape fast enough. However, the golden Phoenix grabbed his attention as he stood to its feet and gestured with its head as if trying to get him to come to it. Rob didn't question it as he used his jet boots to lift into the air also dodging a hammer swing from the Iron King's mallet. Rob managed to get onto the neck of the beast after getting Miles on first. The Phoenix rose into the air slowly since it was still injured. The Iron King moved to prevent their escape throwing his mallet. Rob deflected the weapon with a concussion beam from his glove. The Phoenix added insult to injury by raining down a gale of sharp feathers that smashed into the body of the Iron King immobilizing him. Once in the air the Phoenix took broke into open sky to allow it's escape as it's light is able to break through the darkness. The Iron King shrugs off the feathers that penetrated his skin then looks toward the direction the Phoenix went. He walks over to collect his mallet then calmly walks in the direction they went.


	23. Glance Into the Past

_**The Wielders of Chaos part 23**_

"_**Glance Into the Past,"**_

Tony stares up at the blackened sky then lets out a long sigh before his eyes start to scan his surroundings. He's sits on a rooftop overlooking a portion of Central City, the building had actually been the one that he and his friends Miles and Rob had sat on. Frankly, he was bored and he did miss his friends. He did a bit of training with the Chaotix and has kept the city safe. A few hordes of monsters thought it would be a good idea to attack the city head on, but they were quickly dealt with. Tony glances down at his Chaos Emerald then back out over the city.

"_Something on your mind kid_?" Knuckles asks Tony. Tony lets out a small grumble. "_Miss those other two already_?"

"N-No, I don't miss them!" Tony quickly responds with a sound of displeasure with a hint of embarrassment. "But, it has been kinda boring without em…"

"_Not used to having friends are ya kid_?"

Tony saw no point in denying this statement, even though it was asked as a question, Knuckles knew that what he said was true. "Yeah…but look at me…not necessarily what a person pictures with the word friendly comes to mind," Tony points out the small horns sticking out his head and dark colored eyes that matched the color of blood. Aside his appearance, his disposition left much to be desired as he was quick to snap at others especially if they don't agree with the way he thinks. "Besides I do have friends, thank you very much and I even have a girlfriend!"

"_Excuse me_," Knuckles responds playfully. But then scoffs before continuing on, "_Wait, girlfriend, why_?"

"What do you mean why?"

"_Tony you're like ten years old, the heck you need with a girlfriend, you should just play on the swing set or drink from your juice box instead_,"

"A remark like that would get you electrocuted, so you're lucky you're in this Emerald," Tony growls tightening his grip on his Chaos Emerald before relaxing it. "Anyway, yes I have friends and a family all waiting back home for me,"

"_What are your friends like?_"

"They're cool, kinda like these guys but more…out there if that makes sense," Tony could tell that Knuckles was probably shrugging his shoulders. "We're all out trying to save the day and stuff. Still don't think I'm much a hero though, though I've stopped my fair share of bad guys,"

"_Well considering you're here and not off somewhere else then you are just good enough to make the cut_,"

"But seriously Knuckles, all jokes aside, why am I here?"

"_Because this is where you need to be_," Knuckles answered simply without going into detail with his answer. This makes Tony groan.

"There must be more to it than that. I shouldn't be on this world fighting this battle, some of the people who are on this team shouldn't be here some are from other time periods, other dimensions, and who knows where else. Why are we being shoehorned into this?"

"_I don't claim to have a full understanding of everything that's going on Tony. All I can do is focus on fighting. This world doesn't need heroes, it needs warriors willing to lay down their lives for a cause they believe in. Whether they be hero or villain is irrelevant_," Tony stares at his emerald in shock not quite sure how to take the fact that his partner nicknamed knucklehead could display such wisdom. "_I may be gullible, but I'm not a fool. To be frank this whole hero or villain thing you have going on, no point in it right now. It's time to fight and whether you see your home or not is entirely up to you,_"

"But what if we fail? I don't like the idea of having a world that isn't even my own placed on my shoulders,"

"_Would you feel the same way if it was your own world we were fighting for?"_

Tony pauses to think about this question. At first he thought he knew, but after a few more thoughts he realized he was wrong. This may not be his world, but he has friends who are directly affected because this world is where they call home. Eventually this world will die, and then more will probably suffer in the long run if this problem isn't solved. He realized because this is important to his friends, it should be important to him. "No," he finally says. "But that won't stop me from protecting my friends,"

"_Good now lets head ba-ugh!_"

"Ugh!" Tony winces at the same time as Knuckles. "What was that?"

"_I'm not sure…but something bad is happening on Angel Island…"_

"Happening where?" Tony questions.

"_We have to go now!_" Knuckles states with the upmost urgency.

"Hey Tony!" calls Will from above as he flies toward the boy. "The Chaotix are about to grab something to eat before we do a little training, you in?"

"Sorry I got somewhere to be," Tony says quickly placing his violet Chaos Emerald on the side of his backpack before leaping off the rooftop to go flying through the air. Will watches after him before shrugging then flies back toward the ground where Kit and DJ were waiting for him.

"Where's he off to?" DJ said watching the fleeting figure of Tony go through the air. His sunglasses he fashioned into sport goggles handing around his neck so his aqua green eyes can be seen. Kitt stood next to him, without donning his ninja mask but still retaining his ninja GI.

"Said he had somewhere to be," Will responds joining them on the ground.

"_Did you ask where?"_ Espio questions.

"_No, but Knuckles and Tony seemed like they were super serious about something. Maybe he had to go potty_," Charmy suggests.

"Well I guess we'll know soon enough, let's go," DJ said turning to lead the way to where the three could get something to eat.

"Hey DJ, you doing okay?" Will asks which makes the boy turn a confused look back at Will. "Well, I know places that are heavily populated can drive you nuts,"

DJ nods now understanding, "I'm fine, doing great actually, I managed to get in touch with my folks back in Empire City after all that craziness went down. They found refuge in Westopolis. After the Black Arms devastated that place a while back the city really beefed up on defensive measures. One of the safest places to be in an emergency," DJ said with an air of lightness in his voice.

"That is good to hear," Will says nodding. Will glances at DJ's wrist seeing the colorful band he always wore. Will had thought it was rather tacky when he first saw it, but deemed it pretty valuable. DJ had said that his sister had given it to him.

"How are you doing Will?" Kitt questions him now as attention shifts to him. Will seems taken by surprise as his taller friends turn their attention to him waiting on a reply.

"Fine, why do you ask? I mean, I know I got the kid member of the Chaotix and I'm the shortest guy here, but that doesn't mean I need you guys looking after me," Will says turning his nose up.

"You know why," Kitt responds plainly which makes Will eyes shoot off to the side. "No need to pull the funny guy act around us,"

"What about you, Mr. isolation!" Will snaps back though his words don't seem to shake Kitt much as his eye only narrows slightly as if only slightly ruffled by the response. "You're a freaken war hero back home and that actually makes you feel bad! You shoulda went with Miles to the Dragon Kingdom, you're needed there more than here anyway!"

"Come on, that's not true Will," DJ states calmly with a stern face.

"Just stop ganging up on me alright!" Will yells.

"No one is ganging up on you," Kitt states mirroring DJ's tone and facial expression. Will seems to relax possibly feeling silly for yelling at them when they were speaking as if they were talking about the weather. He lets out a sigh then gives a barely audible apology. Kitt and DJ though didn't let his blow up derail them as DJ throws an arm around Will's shoulders as they continue on their way to find something to eat. With Kitt hanging back a bit. "I sense you're curious Espio," Though DJ was the one holding the Emerald, as long as the three of them were at least within the same vicinity it worked just like any Chaos Wielder relationship.

"_I suppose I am. I've noticed since we've met Will that he tends to blow up like that every now and again. You three were already together when you had found us so there are bits and pieces that we do not know_," Espio says with an edge of concern.

"Yes that is true," Kitt lets out a sigh before following from behind. "We had only known each other a month before Will had found that Emerald. The way we met was…hectic to say the least. Before the darkness took the planet, I had been traveling on my own since I left my clan, I decided to sail across the ocean in a boat thinking that exposure to a different land may help me see things clearer. After leaving the Dragon Kingdom I was hoping to find a new life, unfortunately it seemed I did. That was when the darkness took hold and Mephiles' influence grasped the planet. After learning of the fallen heroes, hope seemed to be lost, but I refused to allow myself to fall to these creatures. Especially…since I still had not told her about my feelings…"

"_Her_?" Espio questions. He had thought Kitt rather nervous around women.

"A girl named Molly, and I left my sister behind too. My parents are probably back home trying to do what they can as well. With all that is happening, I left my clan behind to fend for themselves and with their numbers already dwindled because of the after effect of a coup. I hold out some hope they are alright, but…I am ashamed to return to the Dragon Kingdom, unless I have made peace with my guilt. The only way to do that is to destroy Mephiles,"

"_I see, I finally understand your willingness to fight. I knew you were trained and already use to combat. But, this fighting spirit was something still unexpected considering whom we fight,_"

"That's fair enough. Anyway, you could say I was waging my one man war against any beast I could see traveling around the country as a drifter. While on the outskirts of Empire City, I had run into Dakota. He had been running away from home because he had felt like a freak, an outsider, plus his gift does not do well in densely populated areas. He was crazy to try and go out on his own. I saw him in trouble and decided to help. I advised him to return home as I move on, however he refused. He brought me to see reason in my actions of desperation, that my strength alone would be meaningless in the end. I'd fight, and eventually die and then Mephiles may be none the wiser to my existence. So, I asked if he would help me find a way to end this darkness. He went along with me because he had nowhere else to go, but he was apprehensive, believing whole heartedly we'd die trying," Kitt said then looks forward to Dakota ruffling Will's hair as the boy protests trying to move away. He smiles at this. "That is, until we found Will…"

"_I see, this was a game changer_,"

"Tremendously so, we had found him running from a cluster of monsters out in the Mystic Ruins. He was scared to death, crying, utterly filled with dread and hopelessness, even after we had saved him. Dakota and I nearly lost our lives honestly, barely survived if Dakota had not acted in saving both of us by using his gift. The residual energy of those ruins were like a repellant to those monsters, Dakota saw this and managed to get us there. Will…believe it or not, was nothing like the person you see before you now. He was broken, empty, and indifferent to his own suffering. I had seen bad things happen to people many times, heard terrible stories, but it never gets easier to hear to be honest. His father had feel ill when the brunt of despair first hit, when the rioting, looting, and pillaging had first started. His father held in as long as he could while still trying to keep his family afloat, eventually it was all too much and he died, overcome with this despair his mother took her own life right in front of him. That memory forever burned into his mind,"

"_Then…how is it possible that he can be the way he is now after such-_," Espio stops himself.

"What is it?"

"_I've noticed that each one of us share more in common then we realize. Our carrier and your heroes, we each share certain distinct qualities that allow our powers and skill to synch so well. We think alike, even though we are very different people, which is good. It can enlighten us to parts we had no idea we had,_" Espio pauses a moment before continuing. "_Charmy himself is an orphan, so I believe he can sympathize with Will_ _tremendously, and how he was able to make Charmy open up to us about his death. Charmy's life was ruined utterly, because of Eggman, destroyed practically every trace of his colony_,"

"But…then how is he able to-," Kitt pauses before he chuckles. "I see now, those two have suffered a bunch. I bet you decided yourself to protect Charmy at all cost huh?"

"_Yes…I have failed that personal goal of mine, but on my honor I won't my failures stop me from doing what I must, and neither should you_,"

"You're right," Kitt says tightening his fist. "Ya know something funny, Will had told us, even though his father was suffering, he still managed to stay upbeat. His father told him the secret before he had died,"

"_And what is this secret_?"

"Hope," Kitt says simply picking up his walking pace when he sees both DJ and Will turn to look back at him. "We decide what we're eating?"

"Yeah, I could go for a nice foot long sub sandwich!" Will says happily somehow over his blow up a few minutes ago. Now it is at this point Espio understands now. Kitt and DJ are the only people Will is willing to drop the mask for to show his true feelings. Every those willing to help and be patient is spiritually very healthy and helps him heal. Will would be fine which leads Espio to believe that these kids were going to be alright in the end. His thoughts are halted though when a giant pillar of fire shoots up into the air exploding down the street from them.

"That looks serious," Kitt states plainly.

"Aww, but my foot long!" Will whines pointing in the direction of the sandwich shop.

"It'll have to wait, let's go Chaotix!" DJ exclaims leading the charge with his two friends flanking him. They arrive at the vortex of fire as it begins to converge on itself showing that there were figures inside. The Chaotix were on guard as they stood ready for what may pop out of the flames when they subside. Vector informs the boys that some type of strange energy is powering the flames would put them on edge more. Kitt readied a few shuriken, Will summoned his bee wings, and DJ raised his fists. The flames finally dropped which prompts the boys to move in to fight now and ask questions later.

"Whoa!" exclaims a voice as all three boys are suddenly frozen in mid charge unable to move.

"That's the worst hello ever guys," says a voice that all three instantly recognize. The boys see that Sol, Mikaela, and Andrea had returned also with four other people with them. Two kids, a girl, and another boy. The members of Team Rose frown at them as Mikaela roughly drops the boys on the ground.

"Sorry about that, we didn't know," DJ says picking himself up.

"Well, I can't blame you for having that mindset, but at least make sure if we're a threat or not first," Sol says with a huff.

"I'm guessing things work out back on Blaze's world?" Kitt questions.

"Oh yeah, things went…we survived that's the important thing," Andrea said.

"I'll say, dying scares the crap outta me," Everyone gives her a deadpanned stare. "Oh right, new people, guys these are the Chaotix. The one with the shades is DJ partnered with Vector the Crocodile and leader, Kitt the resident ninja with dreadlocks whose partnered with Espio the Chameleon, and the hyperactive brunette there is Will who is partnered with Charmy Bee,"

"Why do those two get such good introductions?" Will mutters.

"Guys meet our friends, the guy with the blonde hair and big sword is Sam Permafrost who is partnered with Mighty the Armadillo, the boy with the dirty blonde hair is George who is the carrier of Ray the Flying Squirrel, the girl with the fanny pack is Lauren she's the carrier of Cream the Rabbit, and finally the kid in the fedora is Victor but he prefers Arcane he's the carrier of Chaos," Mikaela explains.

"Well it's nice to meet all you," DJ gestures with a wave not really sure how to properly greet new faces since he wouldn't consider himself the social type.

"Likewise, hope we'll be able to work together really well," Sam said taking the initiative to reach out and shake DJ's hand. DJ visibly winces a bit at this boy's crazy grip. "Whoops sorry, good thing you're pretty strong too or I might've broke your hand. Still getting used to Mighty's strength,"

"_Geez, you could give Knuckles a run for his money…_," Vector says able to feel the tension of DJ's hand.

"_Ya know, Andrea and Amy mentioned this Knuckles guy too. Is he supposed to be really strong_?"

"_Strongest guy I know and I know a lot of people!_"

"_Says him…"_ Charmy mutters.

"_No one asked you pipsqueak_," Vector retorts.

"Whoever has this guy is partnered with must be one tough customer then, maybe he and I should have an arm wrestle," Sam said with a smirk.

"Hold on a moment," Kitt says suddenly speaking up. "Either my math is off or you're one short. I count only six Sol Emerald holders,"

"Yeah, bout that, turns out the guy whose name is Michael had decided to head here before we us. All I can go on is that he apparently went to this place called Angel Island to secure the Master Emerald,"

"Angel Island, but last I heard it's under the control of that demigod Enerjak, right?" Will asks looking at his teammates for confirmation.

"Yes, if that is the case we must stage a rescue operation to go retrieve him," Kitt says.

"Arcane has something to say!" George says grabbing everyone's attention. Arcane glares at George who only smiles back before Arcane breaks his gaze to look at the others.

"Well, Chaos was telling me that Angel Island is currently moving and it seems to be moving farther away from inland. He still says that Michael and Tikal are still alive but also that the current Guardian is going to meet up with him," Arcane shrugs at the stares he was receiving. "I have no idea what it means,"

"Wait, so you have Chaos, Chaos, like, the god of destruction Chaos?" Kitt questions.

"Yeah, but he doesn't much like that title. He prefers Guardian of the Chao and Master Emerald, or of the planet. He says it's thanks to his power that this world has been able to be sustainable for so long," Arcane holds up his Sol Emerald. "But using that power really tapped him out, he didn't have much strength left but he still wanted to fight so he got in on this whole emerald partner thing,"

"Makes sense…" DJ says with a nod then thinks on what Arcane said. "You say current Guardian, who is that?"

"_That would be Knuckles_," Vector answers. "_I guess we can have a talk with him about what we should do about Angel Island_,"

"_Uh, earth to Vector, he just said that Knuckles is on his way to Angel Island, but we just saw Knuckles and Tony a little while ago. Sooo that means…_" Charmy said expectantly.

"Those jerks ditched us," Will answers before Vector could.

"Basically," Arcane says bluntly.

"Well I know Miles won't like that, where is he anyway?" Sol asks.

"Your boyfriend is still at the Dragon Kingdom," Will says with a sly smirk.

"Not my boyfriend,"

"Riiiight," Everyone mutters.

"You guys don't even know him!" Sol yells pointing at the four newcomers.

"Well since you mentioned him a few times, and knowing where he was just so happen to be pretty high on your priorities," Lauren said with a teasing tone.

"I may be dense, but I ain't dumb. I know a crush when I see it," Sam says.

"Sol's love life aside, back to the matter at hand. So we have no idea where two carriers are, our leader is an ocean away, and…anything else?" Mikaela said changing the course of the conversation.

"Well Team Dark still hasn't come back from their mission and Chaos knows when they'll get back," Will adds.

Arcane's emerald briefly flashes. "Chaos says he has no idea where they are so he doesn't understand why you think he does,"

"It's just an expression…" His emerald begins flashing rapidly. "Now what, he doesn't get what an expression is?"

"No, he says…a warp is about to appear?"

"A what?" everyone questions. However, the answer came in the form of a small ball of light that appeared before them. The ball explodes into a bright light spitting out two figures and a slumping form. When the light died away everyone was able to see Cinos and Kayla trying to hold together a severely damaged Omega.

"Oh my gosh, are you guys okay?!" Andrea screams in fright seeing their conditions as she rushes over with the others at her heels.

"It was insane…we…we," Kayla stops as she tries to regain her nerve clearly in shock. Cinos struggles to try and lift the metallic body of Omega but can barely get the behemoth an inch off the ground.

"Let me get that for you," Sam offers reaching for Omega but this puts Cinos on guard as Chaos Energy swirls around his fist poised to strike Sam.

"Cinos chill, he's with us okay calm down," Sol said intervening as he places a hand on Cinos arm to gentle bring it back down. She'd never seen Cinos so tweaked before, or this type of temperament from him. It kinda scared her. Cinos says nothing as he steps aside to allow Sam to lift Omega's body. Cinos is uncharacteristically silent through the process. After Team Dark's arrival the atmosphere clearly took a turn for the worst as everyone heads to G.U.N headquarters. The heroes didn't even have anything to say either. Sol glances to see that Kayla was trying to be comforted by Mikaela and Andrea, trying only because Kayla is unresponsive to everything. Sol had a hot hatred build up in her stomach not only at Mephiles but at the Commander. How could he send them into the lion's den so ill prepared without more help? However, tactical wise she knew he had worked with everything they had. Everyone was all out doing something and the ones with no standing orders had to stay and protect Central City.

"It'll be okay," Lauren says to her cutting into her doubtful thoughts. Sol looks at the older girl to see a hopeful smile. "We'll be fine, we've got mostly everyone here now, so we don't have to worry. They're just in shock give em time and they'll snap back to their old selves," Sol nods taking in Lauren's words. She was always the optimistic one to contrast with her own pessimistic views. "When this Miles gets back we'll sort everything out,"

With that she wholeheartedly agrees.

* * *

Pain…

That's the first thing that greets him when he woke up. His dream didn't help his state of mind much either with its reminders of the past. Miles finds himself on the floor on a mattress bed under a soft blanket. He moves to sit up but winces in pain. He was hoping he'd heal from any injuries when he woke up just as he pasted out. Clearly that did not happen, or he was in worse shape than he assumed. He wasn't sure how he was alive either, he was sure he should be dead right about now. Miles tries sitting up again to take a better look around. After a loud grunt at the effort he sees he's in a small room occupied by only him. No furniture or anything only a TV on the other side of the wall with jade green flooring and a bright hanging light bulb. He rubs his side noticing his Chaos Emerald is gone, after taking another glance around the room he sees it isn't with him here either. However, he can still sense it and feel that it's close. But he realizes that is the reason he has not healed as quickly as he thought, direct contact with the Emerald helps tremendously.

A faint noise grabs the attention of his ears as he turns toward it to see the sliding door parted a little. He sees an eye look at him and when the person sees him they quickly close the door and seemingly shy away from the door. Miles tilts his head making him wonder where the heck he was. Seeing as no one was around he decided to go find out where he was, he managed to slowly with every muscle protesting to try and stand up. Before he could get to his feet though, which he realized he wasn't wearing shoes, the door opens fully this time accompanied with an annoyed tone uttering the word 'idiot'. Miles turns to see Rob staring him with a face of indifference. Miles notices that Rob his not currently wearing his gloves and his boots are also off showing the white socks on his feet. Rob walks over to Miles then bends down to force Miles, uncaring if he caused him any discomfort, to lie back down on the mattress.

"I go away for a few minutes and you're already trying to run off again," Rob says taking a seat next Miles still with his face of indifference.

"Where are we?"

"The village elders house, the one who took us in remember?"

"Right, okay, next question. How did I get here?"

"I rescued you," Rob states plainly before musing over something. "Also the Phoenix helped but flying us back,"

"Oh the Guardian, do you know how it's doing?"

"It's resting near the mountain top where the Brides are, so it should be safe and being cared for,"

"That's good, now last question, where is my Chaos Emerald?"

"With the elder, mine is too. I asked him to hold on to them since I didn't want you running off again, and plus Tails wanted to talk to Sonic, I suppose to keep him company,"

"Well, I guess everything is under control for the moment. Let's go get our Emeralds and try to talk to the Bride of Constant Vigil, hopefully she's made up her mind by now,"

"We have something do before that," Rob says sternly leading Miles to look at him confused. "We have to talk," Miles sighs at this. "I know you don't want to, but if you don't then at least listen. Growing up, I always had a knack for understanding the things that were beyond others. I liked learning and figuring out problems and issues that no one else could. My parents actually gave me an IQ test which told them I have an IQ of 220, so I'm pretty much a certifiable genius. But being smart left me alone a lot, because no one else could understand me when I understood everything. It's kinda true what they say, the more ya know the bigger bummer you are," Rob looks at the floor now as he continues assuming Miles is still listening. "My parents were the only people in the world who saw how much good I could do, they believed in me knew that I'd go on to great things. They were freelance mechanical engineers so they go wherever they were needed, but I knew that they were brilliant it just no one knew just how much so. I'm not sure what brought them here to the Dragon Kingdom because they never told me the assignment specifically but I know it was to do some good. But after living without them for so long I realized how utterly alone I was. I wanted to make friends, but with all my knowledge I had no idea how to do this. Intelligence is a lonely life, Tails knows what I mean, he told me before he met Sonic he was all by himself too. Even Dr. Eggman has no known allies or friends that he hasn't built himself, so what I'm saying is being smart is lonely!"

"Okay…" Miles begins before saying. "But…why are you telling me this?"

"Because you're my friend, the Elder mentioned that we are honest with ourselves and our friends. Tony is my friend too and Mikaela and all the others too. I've never been so happy and I'm here to save my parents too means I'm gaining so much more then what I had. But…you…I was alone because I didn't know how not to be, you're alone because you choose to be. I don't understand that, who would choose to be alone?!" Miles bites his lip seeing where the conversation was going now. "I worked really hard, tried and failed to have a friend so much so I started pushing people away instead. I didn't know how not to be alone, but you don't have that problem. So why, why do you have to be alone huh?" Rob stares at Miles now his face of indifference gone with genuine concern and frustration now covering his features. Miles is silent not saying anything which makes Rob's frustration rise. "Will you freaken answer my question?!" Rob yells yanking on Miles shirt.

"Because I'm a freak," Miles responds dryly. This response made Rob pause unsure if he heard right or not. Miles still wouldn't meet his confused gaze, but Rob could see the harshness in it. Though he answered the question Rob didn't understand.

"I don't get it," Rob says releasing his grip on Miles' shirt. Miles does not respond which makes Rob lose his patience. "I said I don't get it so explain it to me. How are you a freak?"

"Chaos energy," Miles says simply. "Is the most powerful known source of energy on this world, maybe more powerful than anything in most worlds. Sonic says it probably is one of the most powerful sources of energy in the universe and he would know he has meet people from other worlds. Imagine, if humanity could harness that energy. After all one tiny emerald could power an entire city, so imagine what more of it could do,"

Rob pauses to think of the possibilities and admits the prospect had some positives to it. "But what has that got to do with you?"

"G.U.N researchers have been trying to figure out how to harness Chaos Energy for years, but it's been difficult when they can hardly hold onto one Chaos Emerald before it's stolen right from under them," Miles continues as if he hadn't heard Rob. "But, they had a field day when Shadow the Hedgehog became an agent who was most skilled in harnessing Chaos Energy. Thanks to him, they had learned of a greater source of power known as the Chaos Force, an infinite pool of Chaos energy that certain individuals could connect with. The Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald were connected to this source and the items only held a fraction of its power. The prospects of creating machines powered off Chaos Energy to power these machines, help build new robots, and combat bigger threats so they didn't have to rely on Sonic to save the day all the time,"

"But what has that got to do with-,"

"Shadow wasn't too keen on the idea since he explained that as the name implied, Chaos energy was extremely difficult to fully control the energy Chaos Emeralds put out can interfere with machines unless they are tailored to resist the affects," Miles pauses for a moment but this time Rob says nothing. "My parents were agents for G.U.N,"

"Were?" Rob questions.

"They were good at their job, they were field agents that were deployed in combat zones, usually not going into combat but more as a on hand R&D squad. They had been commissioned the idea to study Chaos Energy and were in charge of projects. They had even built this energy convertor so they could drain energy from the Chaos Emerald and inadvertently connect to the Chaos Force through it. They had brought me to work with them that day like they do from time to time as a way to expose me to their work or something. I don't know why I was only eight. I had been there so many times I could walk the place blindfolded. But when they were experimenting on a Chaos Emerald I had saw Shadow. I had never seen him before though I had heard about him. I followed him to see where he was going and made the mistake of walking into the testing area, of course I didn't know that at the time. Shadow was there to contain the energy in case things went bad…and things went bad. I was exposed to a large amount of Chaos Energy, which also connected me with the Chaos Force," Rob's eyes widen at this bit of information. To demonstrate Miles holds up a hand to let a green glowing energy consume it with a green like fire. Rob was astounded since he knew that should be impossible without an Emerald. "The first human ever to have access to Chaos Energy, I was quite the scientific phenomena,"

"I bet, that's never happened before,"

"Shadow had saved me from dying then since that much exposure could've killed me. My parents pretty much dropped everything to see to me for the next few weeks. They ignored their jobs and orders to take care of me. The Chaos energy made life different, sometimes I'd start glowing, sometimes I'd accidently shoot stuff out my hands, and other times who knows? It was scary not knowing what may happen. Shadow gave me some hints on controlling it too. Just when I could manage to control it scientist from all over mobian and human wanted to get a look at me. It was thought that the composition of humans wouldn't be able to handle or harness Chaos Energy as demonstrated by Dr. Eggman as he uses them to power machines instead of using them directly. It was unheard of…my parents could only do so much, when they weren't around I was always being observed, poked and prodded, and I bet they'd dissect me if they had the chance. Eventually, I got tired of it! The Commander may say he helped raised me, but that's the biggest joke ever. He practically forced me to be a lab rat training to be used by him. It was too much to take I couldn't handle it I was only a kid!" Miles calms himself before continuing. "So I ran away, not only that but with a chip on my shoulder. I got as far as I could which is when I ended up in Soleana. My parents would've went looking for me if they even knew I ran away, Tower had been keeping them extra busy to make up for their neglect of work. Then the darkness came…" Miles shakes his head as he clenches his fist. "I was so angry at everything and everyone! I started this group of misfits where we just went around adding our own brand of chaos. I'd hurt people, enough to hospitalize them," Rob blinks surprised to hear this. "I used my powers to hurt people…eventually, I guess I vented all my anger because…I woke up and didn't feel like doing it anymore,"

"So that's why, you and Sonic are bonded so well. Your natural connection to Chaos makes you highly sensitive to the energy making bonding with Sonic that much easier,"

"Plus, with his power and my own I have no doubt I could crush anyone. But I don't want to hurt people anymore, I mean, first time Sonic used my body to fight he actually used too much power. We have a pool of energy that could seriously hurt someone, so I usually hold back when I fight. So that's why I wanna be alone, I'm a freak and a jerk,"

"Okay," Rob says now nodding showing his understanding. "I don't disagree with the jerk part, but in case you hadn't noticed I'm not exactly normal either. Now that you told me how do you feel?"

"Embarrassed,"

"Besides that,"

"…Good…that's weird,"

"That's what talking is supposed to do, not that I know, I just asked the Elder if he could give me some advice. Now, are we squared?"

"I never thought we weren't,"

"But as your best friend you won't leave me hanging and you'll let me have your back,"

Miles lets a small smirk slip onto his face, "Fine,"

"Great," Rob stands to his feet offering a hand to Miles knowing he was still sore. Miles was going to reject the hand until he decided to relent as he took Rob's hand. Rob wasn't all that strong so Miles knew he needed to help out too. Once on his feet Rob makes him place some of his weight on him. They leave the room to venture outside where they see a small garden with a large wall further away. Miles glances down the hall to see the polished wood floors going both ways. "This is quite a house I know,"

"Where to?"

"Excuse me?" came a small voice. They both turn to see a small chubby boy twiddling his fingers wearing a traditional Chu-nan attire with raven hair and a bowl cut. "Uh, grandfather says that dinner is ready,"

"Great thanks Chu," Rob responds. The boy nods then quickly scampers away. "That's the Elder's grandson, he's kinda shy around guest," Rob answers Miles' unasked question. The two venture around the spacious home until they arrive in the dining room which from their perspective looked quite different from what they're used to. There being mats instead of chairs and the table being much lower to the ground. The Elder sat at the head of the table with other members of his family there too.

"Ah so glad you both could join us and glad to see you are awake Miles," the Elder said happily. Two glowing Emeralds float through the air as they arrive in the hand of their respective carrier.

"_Jeez Miles, you had me super worried for a while!_" Sonic said glowing brightly.

"Sorry bout that," Miles says taking the emerald his grasp just before Sonic started spouting out his reprimands and concerns.

"_Did you talk to him Rob_?" Tails questions quietly.

"Yeah, I did, and I think we have an understanding now we should be fine," Rob says happily as he places the Emerald on a clip on his hip.

"_Good, now that, that's settled we can focus on the incoming threat,_"

"But first, food," Rob said sitting down at the table. He finds a pair of chopsticks waiting there for him so he splits them in half. Miles follows his lead sitting next to him and doing the same. The family said their thanks for the food then began to dig in. Miles had never had dumplings before, well like these anyway so it was amazing getting a taste. Though he was struggling to use the chopsticks probably as his hand started hurting and he couldn't manage a strong grip on it.

"So how long will you boys be staying with us?" asks the woman of the table who seemed middle age and very well mannered.

"Not long hopefully, and I mean that in a nice way. Once we get what we came for we should be gone," Miles says.

"What my friend means to say is we want to stabilize the region and find a few people we're looking for before we can go," Rob clarifies.

"Oh wow, so you think you can do all that in no time flat," asks the young girl probably the woman's daughter.

"Well I am the fastest thing alive," Miles states proudly.

"I don't know how much speed is going to help you," came a voice away from the table. Everyone jumps surprised before turning sharply for a blue chameleon with a beret and gloves to appear before them outside on the lawn. "My apologies elder for interrupting your meal," Valdez gives the man a courteous bow. "But I must speak with your two guests about something of grave importance,"

"Yes, I understand," the elder nods. Miles and Rob stand from the table, albeit begrudgingly to join Valdez on the lawn.

"What this about?" Miles asks.

"The bride of Constant Vigil has some information on what you seek, on both Dr. Eggman, and your parents," Rob bucks at this revelation.

"How could-,"

"We have eyes and ears everywhere. Did you think we would leave such people like yourselves unattended?"

"Well okay, you know our hand, so I think it's fair you show us yours," Rob said annoyed now.

"Not yet, you will get what you came for as soon as we deal with Jun Kun, the Iron King,"

"Yeah, nasty guy that is. He took a face full of lasers and shrugged it off!" Rob exclaims.

"I hit him with so many fast shots but he didn't even flinch," Miles adds.

"Yes, that is the terrifying power of the Iron King that now Mephiles possess. The Iron King, as you may have noticed, is invulnerable to all types of harm, nothing can stop him. To add insult to injury his strength is supernatural, easily one of the strongest beings on the planet,"

"So how do we fight that?" Miles asks.

"The Bride of Constant Vigil is hoping that you two may be able to help with that. Once you deal with him consider the information your reward,"

"I'd want that and for her to owe us one,"

"What?" Valdez questions.

"Miles…" Rob chides.

"No, if she's dumping all this on us I don't want just information I want a favor in return no questions asked,"

"I gotta admit, that is pretty fair since this guy is no regular monster. It'll take a lot to bring him down," Valdez stares at the boys for a few moments before sighing.

"On my honor, I shall see to it that your demands are met,"

"_That's as good as it gets over here guys_," Sonic states.

"Fine, okay we'll deal with the Iron King, anything else you can tell us about him?"

"He is on way here now," This catches both boys' attention. "Scouts place him a few miles up the road taking Dragon Road. He's only walking as if teasing us with how long we have until he gets here. He is the single reason this region is on its last leg. Monsters are easy to deal with, but he on the other hand is a different kind of beast,"

"Well I guess we'll have to figure out a way to stop the unstoppable," Rob says before letting out a sigh. Valdez bows to them graciously before taking his leave of them. "Do you guys have any idea how to stop him?"

"_Stop him, no way, only way to deal with him is to not deal with him at all. I had used this thing called the Fan of Fen Xing and it literally blew him away. Only way to deal with him, he's too powerful_," Sonic explains.

"_It's true, he's too powerful to fight head on, we won't win that way_," Tails says in agreement.

"How do you stop the unstoppable?" Miles questions confused.

"…By putting an immovable force in front of them! I've got an idea,"

"Really?"

"Yeah, you may not like it but it might work,"

"As long as I don't have to fight the guy head on, I'm cool with-," he notices Rob's nervous stare. "I hate you,"

Jun Kun was marching up the brick road toward Chu-nan, the capital of the Dragon Kingdom. He'd last waste to the entire Dragon Kingdom except this place. This would be the Dragon Kingdom's final hour before he was moved toward the other continent where he could destroy G.U.N and all the Chaos Wielders. If the Iron King could think, he would be very pleased with the fear he has brought, but also angry for not having anything to show for all this effort. Nothing, not even a Chaos Emerald for his troubles but the Iron King pauses feeling a new presence. Suddenly up the road standing before him is the boy he had defeated earlier. He seemed to have healed up and was ready to fight again. He holds up his arm holding his Tremor Mace prepared to be attacked in a moment's notice knowing the boy is fast. Miles sighs knowing that he won't like doing this a second time, but now he is well aware his attacks aren't effective. ("Don't hold back this time Miles, give it everything,") Rob's words echo in his mind as he tries to release the locks he had placed on himself when it came to holding back. Since Miles made no move to attack first the possessed Iron King rushes to attack first. He raises his mace to bring it down smashing it into the brick road and creating a large dust cloud upon impact.

"Ya missed!" Miles exclaims standing behind the big Ox. The Iron King sharply turns swinging a spinning backhand that Miles managed to dodge by taking a step back a pivoting backwards out of range of the attack. Which allowed him to be ready to jump back when another swing of the Ox's mace came around. Miles lands back on his feet then quickly dashes to the Ox dodging a straight punch then begins to run around in a circle around the Iron King eventually creating a tornado and lifting the ox off his feet. Miles stops sharply throw his leg in a roundhouse into The Iron King's chin throwing him back. Miles massages his foot for a moment as the Iron King, as expected, brushed off the attack to rush Miles. "Swing and a miss!" Miles exclaims leaping up to vault off of the Iron King's shoulder. "What's up with the armor anyway, you're already invulnerable, is the armor really necessary? Or is it strictly for appearances only, I guess it would be awkward to be called the Iron King while being buck nude," The Iron King snarls swing his mace again Miles to jump back. Miles points out his arms toward the Iron King then begins to spin them in a circle quickly creating a focused tornado. This time he was not blown back as he controlled the wind to smash into the Iron King making him take a step back but otherwise he did not waiver. "Tch,"

"**These meager winds are nothing, you will not stop me!**"

"Thanks for the update, I really needed to know that," Miles stops the wind and just as he does the Iron King rushes him swing a fist straight into his jaw knocking him to the ground. Miles was down but refused to stop moving as he rolled just as the Iron King smashes down his Tremor Mace. Miles felt the vibration of that attack too which makes him gulp. He leaps forward stepping onto the mace still implanted in the ground to slam his knee straight into the Iron Kings nose making the ox buck. Miles places a hand on the Iron King's chest. "Chaos Control," he says as the two warp away. The two appear in the sky high above ground. While in the air Jun Kun was defenseless so Miles took this chance to wail on him to the best of his ability delivering punches to his face. Miles kicks off his chest then curls up to come streaking down using his Chaos Sonic Spin attack. The enhanced attack smashes into the Iron King which smashes him harshly into the ground creating a large dust cloud. Miles jumps back trying to catch his breath as he waits to observe the damage he caused. Though as expected a moment later he heard movement as the Iron King stood back up unaffected by being smashed into break at more than 200 mph.

"You are tough," Miles said with a sigh. He knew he couldn't stop Jun Kun, he was far too powerful. His best stuff turned out to be pointless in the end. The Iron King raises his mallet prepared to end Miles. "But brain beats brawn," Jun Kun brings down his mace only to be surprised that his mallet is stopped before it reaches Miles. He tries again and again noting a flash of blue each time his mallet hits.

"I see it works fine," came a voice behind the Iron King. He turns sharply to see Rob standing behind him with a smirk. "I can tell even though you're possessed you're really confused. By all means keep striking this shield if you want to stay there any longer,"

"**What have you done to me**?" The Iron King demanded in a demonic voice.

"I stuck a small shield generator on your back," Rob points out to which the Iron King turns his head to see a black object attached to his armor. "When Miles teleported you in the air I was already there so I stuck in on your back," He reaches to take it off, but realizes he cannot. "Yep, that armor doesn't help much for flexibility huh,"

"**How is this possible, you cannot possibly contain Jun Kun, the Iron King**!" he smashes his fist against the barrier as hard as he could with resounding boom that made Miles and Rob cover their ears. Rob gestures for Miles to follow him as Jun Kun continues to pound away at the barrier.

"That worked out rather nicely, but will that shield hold him long?" Miles asks nervously.

"No doubt, Nicole would approve if she were here. I was planning on creating a shield generator for the biplane repel all kinetic forces. All I had to do was reverse engineer it to contain kinetic energy. The more he pounds away at that barrier the stronger it will become. Sure he could destroy the shield generator but that would mean his kinetic energy is now powering the sphere,"

"Wow…that is genius!"

"I know," They both hear another resounding boom from the mace striking the barrier. "By the rate he's pounding on that thing it may take five months for it to wear off, give or take," At this they both laugh as they quickly rush off to town to spread the good news. However, before arriving The Bride of Constant Vigil meets them just before entering Chu-nan,"

"I hear you've contained the Iron King,"

"Yes, he should be stuck for a long time to come, invulnerable or not he's not getting out of that bubble," Rob explains.

"We held up our end of this crazy deal, now hold up yours," Miles demands. The Bride nods as she speaks.

"Dr. Eggman is believed to be held up in the underground, the base entrance is believed to be in the side of a mountain. One of my ninja can take you there, as for you parents…" Rob waits with baited breath. "They are not among the refugees here in Chu-nan," Rob quickly deflates hearing this news making him believe they may truly be dead. "However, since they are such brilliant mechanics it would not surprise me if Eggman kept them under his influence to help maintain his base or what else the Doctor may be planning,"

"You think he's up to something?"

"Most definitely, we do not need his schemes to make things worse for us, for this favor I ask you put a stop to Eggman,"

"We're not here to stop him we're here to ask for his help, smartest guy on the planet, couldn't hurt to see if he has any ideas on our current problem," Miles states.

"But we will try and make sure he won't cause trouble for anyone," Rob speaks.

"Excellent…one last thing…" The Brides features seems to soften ever so slightly. "My son…is he truly back…is he like Sonic and Tails?"

"Yes, he is, he was needed back home to protect our base otherwise I know he would be here,"

"I agree, I'm sure that's what he would do as well…but…when you see him could you give him my regards please,"

"So many favors, but I suppose we can give that to you,"

"Geez, ease up on the snark a little," Rob mutters.

"_Sonic has created a monster_…" Tails murmurs.

"_It's alive…its ALIVE!_" Sonic exclaims over dramatically.

"Good luck heroes, meet Valdez in front of the Gaia Temple and he will show you the way,"

"Thanks again," Rob said before tugging on Miles's shirt to make him come along. The Bride watches them go back down the path with a slightly uplifted view on everything all things considered. She was happy that the earth still had some fight left in it and prove that Mephiles was going to take the planet without one last phase of resistance. "So the stage begins to set for the final battle,"


End file.
